Sail of Stone (52 page)

“What happened once upon a time out there at sea?” said Angela, whose face was half lit by the streetlight outside. He could see her face in half profile. “During the war.”

“I can only imagine, so far,” said Winter.

“What do you imagine, then?”

“A transaction,” he said.

“What kind of transaction?”

“Well, it seems that John Osvald and his crew were involved in smuggling. That’s what his grandson Erik said. But he hasn’t learned anything about what actually happened.”

Winter carefully shifted Angela’s feet down to the edge of the bed, turned onto his side, and took the glass and sipped the whisky.

“But it wasn’t an accident?” said Angela. “When the boat sank?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Will we ever know?” said Angela.

“I don’t think so.”

“But whatever happened was terrible enough that John Osvald switched identities,” said Angela. “Become someone else, and leave your old self behind.”

Winter nodded.

“Good God,” she said.

“He tried to,” said Winter. He drank again. The whisky tasted like the wind that came in through the window. “He must have wrestled with his God.”

“Did he wrestle with his son?” said Angela, who had pulled her naked feet close to her body. She curled up in the easy chair, as though she were cold.

“John Osvald?” Winter changed position on the bed. “Well, that’s the next question.”

“I didn’t mean physically,” said Angela.

“No, no, I realize that.”

“So what happened on the mountain, then? Outside Fort Augustus?”

“I have thought about that many times during the past few days,” said Winter.

“I’ve started thinking about it now,” said Angela. “It’s hard not to.” She shuddered. “And it’s hard to.” She looked at him. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And at the same time you think about Osvald and his unknown daughter.”

“She wasn’t unknown,” said Winter. “She was unknown to us, but that doesn’t mean she was unknown.”

“Did anyone else in that city know about it, then?” Angela asked. “And who was her mother?”

“Her mother is dead, according to the daughter,” said Winter. “And she says that she didn’t know Osvald until a few years ago.”

“But she believed him? Believed that he was her father?”

“Apparently he could prove it,” said Winter. “But I don’t have any details yet.”

Angela shuddered again.

“Are you cold?” Winter asked. “Should I close the window?”

“No. The wind is nice.”

“Do you want a whisky?”

“No.”

“A little tiny one?”

She didn’t answer.

“Angela?”

“I don’t think I should,” she said.

“Sorry?”

“I shouldn’t drink alcohol,” she said, leaning forward so he could see her face.

“Shouldn’t drink …,” he repeated.

“That’s all I’m going to say,” she said.

“You don’t
need
to say more,” he shouted, hopping up out of the bed and spilling several of the ridiculously expensive drops.

“When did you know?” he asked. They were both lying on the bed now. The window was still open. It was still Indian summer in Elgin, or maybe it should be called
brittsommar
in October. “It must have been pretty recently.”

Angela had a glass of mineral water in her hand. She drank it and placed the glass on the nightstand and gently bit her lower lip. She looked out through the window.

“What are you thinking about?” Winter asked.

“Still about what happened in Fort Augustus,” she said. “Between father and son.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Do you have any theories?”

Winter sat up. He could smell the scent of the river outside. The evening was making way for the night.

“I think Axel Osvald dreamed of his father his entire life. That’s only natural. And the circumstances were so dramatic. And this sense of loss got stronger and stronger.” He turned to Angela. “I think we’ll be able to find out much more about him now, from Erik, and from Johanna. Now that we know how we should ask. Why we should ask.”

“But the dad, John, he made contact?”

“He must have, at least once Axel was here,” said Winter. “And of course he also did indirectly, through Erik Osvald.”

“He also had his daughter call?”

“Yes.”

“Did he know what would happen?”

“When they met, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t know his son,” said Winter.

“What do you mean?”

“He didn’t know him. He didn’t know who Axel was. He couldn’t anticipate that there might be an extreme passion, maybe an obsession.”

Winter changed position again where he was sitting on the edge of the bed. “Do you understand? Something could give way. Something could give way very easily. The fact that he took off his clothes had to do with his strong Christian beliefs, his own strong beliefs. It had to do with cleansing, something like that. He wandered on the mountain and prayed and took off his clothes bit by bit. A cleansing bath. On the beach, John Osvald said that his son was washing away his sins. John couldn’t do it himself.”

“Do you think the father told?” said Angela. “Told Axel?”

“Told him what?”

“Told what he had done. What had happened out at sea that time.” She pushed her hair away from one temple. “What his guilt consisted of. The extent of his crime.”

“Yes,” said Winter. “I think so. I think he told. And it ended in disaster.”

“Did Axel Osvald really commit suicide?”

“I don’t know,” said Winter. “But I think so. Suicide. Yes. Lying there naked was suicide.” He ran his hand through his hair. “But maybe in one way it was also murder.” He took his hand from his head. “I don’t know.”

“Will we ever find out?”

“How would we find out?” Winter asked.

“Through John Osvald,” said Angela.

“Maybe,” said Winter, but he didn’t think they ever would.

Later he thought about the sea again. A different sea, a different beach. This beach was on the other side of the North Sea, across from this city and this ancient landscape.

He carefully pushed Angela’s arm off of his chest and slid out of bed. Angela was snoring, but very lightly, a relic of her polyp period.

He poured a finger of whiskey into the glass and stood by the window, which was closed. He opened it a few inches. The air was still fresh out there, but now it was cold. It smelled like water. He saw the sea and that beach in his mind’s eye. He and Angela and Elsa were there, as well as another person he didn’t know yet, a small person. They were all digging in the sand, and then in the soft earth on the plot of land above them. There was dirt in his shovel. He pushed a wheelbarrow filled with sand. He laid stones. He pounded a hammer against a wall.

It was a new era of life.

Sail of Stone

INTRODUCTION

In Gothenburg, Sweden, Chief Inspector Erik Winter agrees to help an old girlfriend find her father, who has disappeared in Scotland under mysterious circumstances while searching for his own long-lost father, presumed to have died in World War II. With the help of an old friend from Scotland Yard, Winter finds himself on a journey through the Scottish coastline and gradually begins to unravel a web of secrets that stretches back across three generations.

Simultaneously, his colleague Detective Aneta Djanali senses there may be more to a domestic disturbance report than meets the eye and pursues her instinct. Like Winter, she is soon in over her head, and her missing persons case gets her caught up in a string of burglaries and a smuggling ring in a seedy part of town.

As they investigate their respective cases, both discover the difficulties involved in uncovering family secrets and the many intricacies of relationships, both their own and those of their clients.

TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Discuss the novel’s title,
Sail of Stone
. Why might Edwardson have chosen this title? What imagery does it conjure up for you?

2. The novel abounds with detailed descriptions of both the sea and the sky. Is there a particular passage that stood out to you for its vivid depiction of either?

3. Both Erik and Aneta rely more on their instinct than on concrete evidence as they doggedly pursue their respective cases. Is this what makes them good detectives? Why does Erik take the Osvald case—is he simply helping an old friend, or is there more to his decision? What motivates Aneta to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding Annette?

4. Both Erik and Aneta are reluctant to fully relinquish their independence, even though they are both in committed relationships. Why do you think this is?

5. Solitude, with its varying impact on individuals, plays a large role in the novel. Erik and Aneta both seek out solitude, holding onto their personal space even when it interferes with their relationships. Conversely, fishermen construct their lives around long periods of isolation as a necessity, and sometimes such a lonely life is said to drive them crazy. The Osvalds state that the silence is the most difficult part of being on a fishing voyage. What do you feel the novel says about seclusion?

6. The book is as much about relationship dynamics as it is about solving crime. How do the detectives’ interactions with one another and their personal relationships impact the plot? Do you see parallels between their lives and those of the individuals they are investigating?

7. Erik Osvald says that storms are good for the sea, because they stir up the bottom, and Winter feels that the metaphor applies to his work, too (p. 111). Discuss the “storms” in the novel that stir up dormant problems. Are they beneficial? To whom?

8. Reread the passage on page 221: “Now here they stood, with a sudden sun over all the mountains that stuck up above the surface of the water. But that was only a small part of it, a tenth of a percent. Everything was below the surface. The iceberg effect. These weren’t icebergs, but the effect was the same. That’s how it was with good books. The simple words were only the topmost layer. Everything was underneath. Books, but also the work in their world. Their world was words, words, words.” How does this iceberg metaphor apply to books,
Sail of Stone
in particular? How
does it apply to the detective work described in the novel? Do you find it an apt metaphor?

9. Discuss the pacing of the novel and the way in which events unfold. How do the concurrent yet independent plot lines relate to one another? Why do you think Edwardson chose to intertwine these two stories?

10. At what point did you identify the character whose reveries were interspersed? What did these flashbacks contribute to the story?

11. After reading the novel, go back and skim the first chapter. How does what you know now change that passage?

12. Discuss the culmination of the novel. Did it match your predictions? Edwardson leaves many questions unanswered; did you anticipate, or want, a more conclusive ending?

13. Ultimately, did either Erik or Aneta “solve” their respective crimes? What did their investigations contribute? Did they manage to clarify and clear up matters, or do you think they may have complicated them further in some instances?

ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

Familiarize yourself with the complicated areas around Gothenburg, Sweden. Go to
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=gothenburg+sweden
and search for places such as Kortedala, the neighborhood of Annette’s apartment; Krokslätt, the site of the Lindsten family home; and Donsö, the island where the Osvald families live.

Similarly, look at a map of the Scottish coastline between Inverness and Aberdeen to help visualize the fishing towns Winter and Macdonald visit on their search for Osvald (Forres, Dallas, Buckie, Pennan, Fraserburgh, and Peterhead). Also check out
www.VisitScotland.com
for more information on the country. Be sure to look at the areas mentioned in the novel: Inverness and Moray in the Highlands Region, and the North East Coast in the Aberdeen City and Shire Region.

Try some traditional Scottish food, such as Cullen Skink (
http://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/cullenskink.htm
) or haggis (
http://www.worldburnsclub.com/begin/address_to_a_haggis.htm
), or dine on the more common fish and chips.

Get a feel for an actual Scottish fishing town by watching the movie
Local Hero
, starring Burt Lancaster, which was partially filmed in Pennan, Scotland. The plot of the 1983 comedy/drama revolves around an American oil company representative who is sent to a Scottish village to purchase the town for his company.

Music plays a large role in the lives of the novel’s characters—rarely do they take a drive or relax in their apartment without putting on a CD. Listen to some of the characters’ favorite jazz, rock, and/or ethnic African music during your meeting. Try jazz legends like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Wynton Marsalis; classic rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Steppenwolf; and traditional African artists like Ali Farka Touré and Gabin Dabiré.