Daniel

"In 1875 Hans Bengler, a young entomologist, leaves Sweden for theexpedition of a lifetime to the Kalahari Desert where he hopes to find apreviously undiscovered insect to name after himself and advance hiscareer. Instead, after his long and arduous journey through the sands, hefinds a small boy, whose tribe has been decimated by European raiders.Accustomed to collecting specimens, Bengler decides to adopt the boy andnames him Daniel. He takes the traumatised child home with him to Swedenand plans to ‘civilise' him. But Daniel cannot slip into an alienculture, and a new life in the cold and snow, so easily. He yearnsdesperately for the desert and his real family, who visit him in hisdreams. His only consolation comes from his friendship with a vulnerableyoung girl called Sanna, who is also an outsider in her community. But eventhis bond is destined to be violently broken, as Daniel's isolation andincreasing desperation lead to a chilling tragedy. As well as an acutepsychological depiction of the extraordinary life of a child thrown intoextraordinary circumstances, in Daniel the acclaimed writer Henning Mankellalso gives us a compelling and disturbing story of the dangerous gaps andmisunderstandings that can exist between individuals and cultures."