The Stone Cutter

The Stonecutter (Swedish: Stenhuggaren) is a 2005 novel a
psychological thriller by Camilla L?ckberg.[1] It was
translated by Steven T. Murray in 2008. It tells the story
of a seven-year old girl who was drowned. A parallel story
is about a stonecutter in the 1920s. The connection with
the recent crime is only revealed towards the end.[2] Plot
Near Fj?llbacka the corpse of seven-year-old Sara is found
in a fishermans net.[3] The post-mortem shows that this
was not a case of accidental drowning because she only has
fresh water in her lungs. She was the daughter of Ericas
friend Charlotte whom she bonded with as they both
recently had children.[4][5] The parents of the dead child
live with the maternal grandmother Lilian an acerbic hag
engaged in a never-ending battle with her Neighbour from
Hell Kaj who has built a new domicile next door to her
profound chagrin; Kaj has a reclusive autistic son Morgan
who spends many hours isolated in his room working on his
computer; suspicions begins to point to him as the
possible murderer particularly as he had seen and spoken
to the child on the day they died.[6] Patrik would prefer
to work on the case with his colleague Martin but instead
the less competent Ernst Lundgren is assigned as his
partner. While theyre interrogating suspects and witnesses
another baby is found with ashes in its mouth but still
alive.[7][8] On the personal front Erika and Patrik are
raising their baby Maja with interference from Patriks
mother Kristina.[4] Chief Inspector Mellberg divorced
tries to bond with his difficult teenage son Simon who is
staying with him for a while. A secondary storyline starts
in Str?mstad in 1923. The poor stonecutter Anders gets
involved with Agnes his bosss spoiled
daughter.[9][10][11][12] When she gets pregnant her father
forces them to marry and expels them to a small house in
Fj?llbacka. They get twins but Anders and his two sons are
killed when Agnes sets the house on fire. She emigrates to
the United States. In the 1950s she returns to Sweden with
Mary a girl she picked up from the streets who becomes her
adopted daughter. Agnes locks her daughter up in the
cellar and lets her eat ashes or Humility. She blames her
second husband ?ke but she also starts an affair with a
married man.[13][6][14][15] The novel also serves as an
eloquent discourse on Aspergers syndrome which is
associated with the character of Morgan Wiberg.