El hijo del viento describe el encuentro de un niño de Namibia con la sociedad sueca del siglo XIX. Con un estilo feroz que se situa en las antipodas de sus policiales, Mankell denuncia el colonialismo pseudohumanista de los europeos. El autor conduce a los lectores por un largo viaje al Africa y la Suecia de finales del siglo XIX, en una novela en torno a la desconfianza y al miedo de los paises llamados «civilizados» hacia otras culturas, hacia lo desconocido y diferente. / Uplifting. . . . Chronicler of the Winds seems to widen his repertory, switching between the nightmarish, the dream-like and the grittily realistic... Mankell evokes a saintliness among those whose brief lives have been tempered by genocide, exploitation and hardship. The New York Times. Mankell's evocative, quietly powerful novel, first published in 1995, tells the unbearably sad story of 10-year-old Nelio, a mortally wounded street kid in an unnamed African port city. After revolutionary soldiers kill his family and most of the people in his village, Nelio makes his way to the city where he joins a gang of homeless orphans, eventuallyand reluctantlybecoming their leader.