As soon as his grandfather and grandmother discover that the boy is missing they mount a search with police help but the boy is never found. Julia, the boy’s mother, is distraught and feels especially guilty as she was not even on the island when Jens wandered off. She deals with her grief and despair through a mixture of alcohol and pills, but she cannot get up the courage to return to Oland or discuss the matter with her parents.

Twenty years pass and Julia gets a message from her father, Gerlof.  He has received some information pertaining to Jens disappearance, but wants her to visit him at the assisted living facility where he currently resides. Julia decides to confront her demons. She borrows the car that she jointly owns with her sister and sets off to fulfill her father’s request.

When she arrives she discovers that her father has received a package containing a sandal that he thinks is one of the pair Jens was wearing the day he disappeared. Gerlof has done some other research into his grandson’s disappearance and wants Julia to drive him to meet with several people that he believes will help solve the mystery of Jens’ disappearance. Though many of Gerlof’s so-called leads make no sense to her, Julia gradually comes to the conclusion that they can do what the police were unable to do several decades earlier. They can discover what happened to Jens.

As is true of many Scandinavian novels, the tone of Echoes From the Dead is dark and foreboding. The characters are not lighthearted happy folk but deeply scarred by events that have deleteriously affected their lives. Not only Julia and Gerlof, but nearly every character in the novel has had some calamitous event befall them for which they have shouldered a great portion of the blame. There is little they can do top console themselves. Yet they carry on, trying, at least in part, to atone for their sins. 

Author Theorin gives his readers a good feel for the climate, terrain and general atmosphere of rural Sweden of which foreigners are likely to be ignorant. The economy of the island of Oland during World War II depended on lumber and shipping. Today, sadly, those industries are largely gone. It appears that the region is dependent on summer residents and their needs.

The novel is related in two time lines. One begins during the 1940s and the other relates events occurring in the present. These divisions are clearly demarcated by distinct chapters though the protagonists are different as well. This method makes it easy to follow the story line.

Though the plot follows a predictable course, the author introduces a few surprises. Readers are not likely to guess what will happen next, though in retrospect the results are in keeping with the personalities and motivations of the protagonists. It is also interesting to trace Gerlof’s thinking as he tries to determine what actually happened after his grandson disappeared in 1972.

The novel was translated by Marlaine Delargy. It reads extremely well in English. The descriptive passages give one a visual idea of the landscape, and several analogies are well rendered in English. Having no knowledge of Swedish, I will credit Delargy with commendable skill as a translator.

Unlike many Scandinavian novels, Echoes From the Dead offers a note of hope and happiness. While the ending is not a happily ever after scenario, there is a sense of peace which comes with having long unanswered questions resolved and reuniting families that have been torn apart by feelings of inadequacy and grief.  

--Andy Plonka