From the bestselling author of the Kurt Wallander novels: The “haunting and fascinating” tale of a young boy’s harrowing odyssey from Africa to Sweden (Booklist).
 
In the 1870s, Hans Bengler arrives in Cape Town from Småland, Sweden, driven by a singular desire: to discover an insect no one has seen before and name it after himself. But then he impulsively adopts a young San orphan boy whose...

"In the years leading up to World War II, two families who seemingly could't be more different find that they have more in common than they could have imagined. Simon is a bookish dreamer from a working-class family in rural Sweden; Isak is the son of wealthy Jewish immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Berlin. While Simon yearns for the music, literature and art that are part of Isak's daily life, Isak finds comfort and security in Simon's...