The Shadow Girls

Review of a Novel by Henning Mankell

Henning Mankell, the Swedish novelist, is best known for his Kurt Wallander mystery novels. The Shadow Girls is the tenth novel Mankell novel that I have read and only one of two outside the mystery series.

The novel tells the story of Jespur Humlin, a minor middle-aged Swedish poet whose books usually sell a thousand copies more or less. His editor is pushing him to write crime novels and he is refusing. Humlin has difficult relationships with both his mother, an eighty-seven-year-old phone sex operator, and Andrea, his long-time girlfriend who is demanding that he commit to having a baby.

At a book signing of his most recent book, Humlin encounters Tea-Bag, a young female immigrant from Africa, who over the course of the novel shares her story and introduces him to Leyla from Iran and Tanya from Russia. Tea-Bag convinces him to teach a writing workshop so the young women can share their stories. At first, Humlin resists until he believes that he can write a book about the young women and how the immigrant experience has made them invisible in the Swedish society.

Humlin is not a very likable character because he is self-centered and spiteful toward others. He is jealous of a fellow poet and does not appreciate the women in his life. Humlin’s personal story is juxtaposed to the stories of the young immigrant women who have had much more difficult lives.

The novel provides insight into the immigrant experience and what it means to leave one’s country in hopes of finding a better life in another country.

Tea-Bag tells Humlin: “You didn’t hear my voice. You only heard your own. You didn’t see me. You saw a person who was born through your own words….We’re trying to achieve the right to exist in this country. How we will win this right, I don’t know…. I continue to exist even though I am not allowed to exist, I am seen although I live in the shadow-world.”

Immigration is a highly volatile issue in the United States and Europe. I highly recommend this book for the insights that it provides into the hearts and minds of immigrants. Mankell is known for his research and his exploration of issues confronting society. My only wish is that I could spend more time with the immigrant women and less with Humlin.