Camera

by Eva-Marie Liffner

A photographer dies leaving all his belongings, amongst them many notes and photographs, to his niece. Intrigued by her inheritance Johanna Hall decides to investigate the secrets of her uncle's early life. Travelling to London, where her uncle had lived and trained in his youth, she uncovers a macabre history laced with scandal. In 1905 Madame Blavatsky holds Theosophist s-ances in London. Amongst the attendees is churchman Charles Leadbeater. Johanna discovers that Leadbeater used his position to take in young children and murder them, the fascination being to capture on film the souls of the children departing their dying bodies. Photographs of the s-ances and the children are taken by Herbert Burrows, to whom Johanna's uncle was apprenticed at the time. The story is told both by Johanna in her present day research and then by her uncle who, as a young man, gives his version of the story. Part crime novel and part historical fiction, Camera reflects upon the r-le of photography to record memories and document truth as Johanna's revelations unfold.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Sweden, Mystery

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 14, 2001

About the author

Eva-Marie Liffner (born 1957 in Gothenburg) is a Swedish author.

Reviews

[Franziska]

Eine sehr eigenartige Geschichte. Vieles wird eher in Andeutungen berichtet, als wirklich erzählt. Ich finde die Ansätze nicht schlecht, aber ich hatte die ganze Zeit das Gefühl, nicht wirklich in der Geschichte anzukommen. Die Zeitsprünge sind dabei auch ab und an sehr verwirrend.

[Okidoki]

Liffners debutroman kom ut första gången 2001. Det förflutna gäckar, vad var det som hände? Huvudpersonerna Johanna Hall och Jacob Hall är fotografer. Berättelsen pendlar från år 1998 till åren mellan 1905 och 1939. Det är inte helt lätt att följa med i svängarna. Vem är "jag" som berättar och i vilken tid? Jag följer gärna med i berättelsen och till teosofernas hus i London. Författarinnan är skicklig på att skildra miljöer, vi hör, ser och känner lukter. Rekommenderas för kulturhistoriskt intresserade. Samma lite vemodiga stämning som i "Drömmaren och sorgen".

[Lisa]

Interesting story and quite creepy. The transitions were odd and jarring, however. Some points were never fully explained, while the author went off on long tangents about minor details not relevant to the story. The result was more like a rambling dream than a coherent narrative. Not bad, but not great either.

[Mindy Gough]

This was a quick and ok read - I will take responsibility for perhaps not reading with enough focus, but I found that certain parts of the mystery didn't add up, or the explanation for them was too vague and so it didn't really crackle for me.

[Suzanne]

3-4 sterren. Ooit gratis gekregen dus geen hoge verwachtingen, maar ik vond het een interessant verhaal (fotografie en geschiedenis - goede combi) en het las fijn weg.

[Guy]

A slim but intriguing mystery about a young Swedish photographer who gets involved in a murderous plot involving the London Theosophical Society in the early 20th century, and whose story is unraveled after his death by his niece, also a photographer, who inherits his belongings. The characters are not developed very well, and the back-and-forth-in-time scheme is a little too strong for such a short book, but generally fun to read. The translator was a little too literal in some regards; translated into correct English, but not quite into British cultural context.

[Sonja Trbojevic]

I found this book very disappointing, and after several attempts at going back to the beginning and starting again, I could not get further than p50. I think the main problem was that the characters were flat and totally uninteresting. The disjointed and sketchy style also added to the overall detached feeling this book gave me.

[Iva]

this is very unusual book but i like it because i love photography, i actually bought it on a sale in city library an decided to explore it on my own, it contains a mixture of mysterious and old, and odd.