The Inheritance of Lion Hall (The Inheritance 1)
One of the pleasures of Bomann’s well-crafted book is the setting in Sweden, 1913-1915. Readers learn about Swedish society, including differences between rural and urban life, in a time of rapid change. The protagonist, Agneta Lejongård, has left her family’s estate to enroll in art school in Stockholm. There she meets the first of her lovers. That affair is short-lived because Agneta returns to her estate when her father and brother are killed in a fire. Reluctantly, as the only surviving child of her aristocratic family, she takes charge of the estate, a rare role for a woman. She hires an estate manager who becomes her second lover. He, too, abandons her. She must decide whether to marry a childhood friend, also of the nobility. Throughout the novel, Agneta has one foot in bohemian culture, represented by her love of art, her attitudes toward sex, and her activities as a suffragette, and one foot in conventional culture, represented by her sense of obligation to the estate and her stern mother.
Bomann writes well, judging from this smooth translation. The novel is well-paced, and even minor characters exhibit distinct personalities. Three mysteries sit at the heart of the novel: What caused the fire that killed Agneta’s brother and father? Why did her second lover abandon her? What secrets does her mother hide? Most of these secrets are wrapped up, but not all—a wise choice. A few red herrings add to the mystery. Bomann, however, is not at her best with sex scenes, which she writes formulaically, and occasionally she gives characters an illogical moment. Scenes of a young woman wondering why she feels ill in the morning, when the reader knows, stretch credulity. However, these are minor matters in an overall compelling read.
