Sofia

About the Sofia series

The Sofia trilogy is based on the true story of Sofia Alface, a young woman Henning Mankell met and befriended during his decades directing a theatre in Maputo, Mozambique. Secrets in the Fire (1995) opens with the real event that shaped Sofia's life: as a girl, she and her younger sister step on a landmine left over from Mozambique's civil war, killing her sister and costing Sofia both her legs. Written for younger readers but unflinching about poverty, disability and loss, the book follows Sofia's recovery and her determination to keep living a full life rather than being defined by the accident.

Playing with Fire (2001) and The Fury in the Fire (2005, also published as Shadow of the Leopard) continue Sofia's story into young adulthood, as she navigates work, love and the ordinary difficulties of building an independent life in Mozambique as a young disabled woman -- with the same clear-eyed honesty about hardship that runs through Mankell's adult fiction, scaled for a teenage readership.

Mankell dedicated significant time and royalties to landmine-clearance and children's charities in Mozambique, and the trilogy grew directly out of his relationship with the real Sofia, who he said remained a lifelong friend. Secrets in the Fire won Japan's Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award.