The Troubled Man

Afterword

In the world of fiction it is possible to take many liberties. For instance, it is not unusual for me to change a landscape slightly so that nobody can say: “It was exactly there! That’s precisely where the action took place!”

The thought behind this is of course to stress the difference between fact and fiction. What I write could have taken place as I narrate it. But it didn’t necessarily do so.

There are many shifts of that type in this book, between what actually happened and what might conceivably have happened.

Like most other authors, I write in order to try to make the world more understandable. In that respect, fiction can be superior to factual realism.

So it doesn’t matter whether or not there is a nursing home somewhere in central Sweden called Niklasgården. Nor does it matter if there is a banquet hall on Östermalm in Stockholm where naval officers congregate. Or a café just outside Stockholm that serves the same purpose, where a submarine officer by the name of Hans-Olov Fredhäll might turn up. And Madonna didn’t give a concert in Copenhagen in 2008.

But the most important things in this book are built on the solid foundation of reality.

Many people have helped me in doing the necessary research. I thank them all most gratefully.

However, the responsibility for the contents right up to the final period lies with me. Completely, and with no exceptions.

Gothenburg, June 2009

Henning Mankell