The Secret of Helmersbruk Manor
In this three-timeline narrative set in 1975, 1925 and 2019, we follow the intriguing history of Helmersbruk Manor, after twelve-year-old Flora and her mother go there in 1975 for Christmas, a year after the death of Flora’s father.
Flora feels strangely at home in the manor and its grounds, which strikes the reader as odd since she has never been there before. Flora hears ghostly voices which whisper “she’s back”. While in the manor and the gatekeeper’s cottage which she and her mother are renting, Flora finds she possesses knowledge, such as how to sing in German and how to make potato pancakes, that she had never known before.
What powers does the manor have, and how is Flora linked to it?
This narrative is richly detailed and deeply intertextual with overtones of The Secret Garden and The Little White Horse. It also has themes of finding your own identity and place to belong and the profound effects that grief and loss can have on a family, especially over a long period of time. Flora’s character is believable and well-rounded, and readers will be rooting for her.
Sandström’s close-up, black and white illustrations add much to the haunting quality of the narrative, and A. A. Prime’s translation is so smooth, the reader would be forgiven for not realizing they were reading a translation.
