A Treacherous Paradise cover art

A Treacherous Paradise

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Treacherous Paradise

By: Henning Mankell
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

A Treacherous Paradise sees Henning Mankell turn his talents for writing gripping thrillers to a world where power and powerlessness meet and passion is a dangerous commodity.

Hanna Lundmark escapes the brutal poverty of rural Sweden for a job as a cook onboard a steamship headed for Australia. Jumping ship at the African port of Lourenço Marques, Hanna decides to begin her life afresh. Stumbling across what she believes to be a down-at-heel hotel, Hanna becomes embroiled in a sequence of events that lead to her inheriting the most successful brothel in town.

Uncomfortable with the attitudes of the white settlers, Hanna is determined to befriend the prostitutes working for her, and change life in the town for the better, but the distrust between blacks and whites, and the shadow of colonialism, lead to tragedy and murder.

©2011 Henning Mankell 2011, English translation copyright © Laurie Thompson 2013 (P)2013 Isis Publishing Ltd, Random House Audiobooks Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Sweden

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Bliss cover art
The Dreaming cover art
I Will Have Vengeance cover art
The Mahé Circle cover art
Letters from a Patchwork Quilt cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Mankell has again done his excellent characterisation in a story that holds your attention from the start.
As always Sean Barrett narrates so well.

Different, intriguing, thought provoking, credible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very different but very interesting, with as always a splendid performance by Sean Barrett who is quite magnificent-as a narrator and of course Henning Mankell an exceptional writer, most enjoyable thank you

Very interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thoroughly miserable from beginning to end, read this if you need to be reminded how awful human beings are.

Morbidly depressing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
he really can write, and Sean can't 'alf read ... I'm about to start again at chapter 1 ... so so good, gotta listen all over again!! I'd forgotten I had this still in my library unread... what had I been missing?! bravo Mr Mankell ... masterfully done 👏👏👏

chillingly unputdownable ...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I persevered with this novel after enjoying the beginning because I have
A high regard for Henning Mankell's other books. This tale is badly put together and is written in a ponderous style with awful dialogue and unconvincing characters. Even Sean Barrett can't bring the story to life.
Mankell needs to research tapeworms because part of the story is factually wrong. The magic realism and symbolism that kept occurring was unwelcome , making me lose faith in the authenticity of the story. I wish I hadn't stayed to the end of this unsatisfactory book. It was a waste of time and made me doubt the skill of the author. I think Mankell wanted a vehicle to make a powerful case against colonialism and racial injustice but It is essentially a children's book set in a colonial brothel so it completely misses the mark. I was very surprised that this book received so many positive reviews
as it is inferior to his other books.

Mankell loses his touch

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What disappointed you about A Treacherous Paradise?

It was the audible equivalent of wading through treacle

Has A Treacherous Paradise put you off other books in this genre?

Absolutely

Which character – as performed by Sean Barrett – was your favourite?

Sean Barrett is my favourite narrator, however, even his superb skills could not rescue these characters

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, I have really enjoyed every other novel from this author but this was a waste of my time

Any additional comments?

I could not recommend this book in any way.

Dirge

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.