A story of mothers and sons, as it says on the cover, and this is true, the Australian edition's title reads "Simon and the Oaks" which makes explicit the impact of the natural word on Simon, a half Jewish boy in Sweden growing up in a loving household with his mother Karin and father Eric. This book is remarkable for one outstanding reason and that is its sensitivity and beauty throughout. The book makes one think that here is a definition of "literature" that which makes this book different from merely "fiction". Much like many Scandinavian novels myths are not far away and it can be seen that the old ways practised in Norway, Sweden and Denmark are still with us in the north where Christianisation was completed in the 11th Century some time after it had been completed in mainland Europe, and its influence was very strong. As such the attempt to eradicate old folk tales and the like was far more difficult, one still sees the old spring festival of "Easter" (pre-Roman, Germanic), having been adopted by the Christian church, practised today conveniently through the date of Christ's death and resurrection. In addition Scandinavia is far from the busy thoroughfare of Central Europe so old traditions and ways of life are still felt in modern times.

This story of Simon and his family, a title also appropriate since the story is as much about them as him, is a beautiful one and its rare nowadays to find novels of such emotional depth and sense of beauty expressed so well and so gently. This is not to say it does not note other painful things in life and so the novel becomes an honest portrayal of life in pre-war and post-war Sweden. Luckily Sweden escaped most of the ravages of the Holocaust because of its neutrality but that doesn't mean its people didn't suffer nonetheless. However, this novel is mainly concerned with the people of the story and their lives, their troubles, angst, problems and so on, the fear instilled by the Nazis is very real and ever present in the minds of Isak and Ruben, Isak's father and wealthy book merchant. The differences between the Jewish life of Ruben and Isak are not stressed so much as their friendship and eventual family bond with the Larsson family (Karin, Eric, Simon).

Even though the natural world forms a part of the story, as it often does in Scandinavian tales, this is not as deeply brought out as the interaction inside the families themselves and so the novel is very human and not infused with the other world of trees, plants and animals which can be found in say "The Forest of Hours".

A novel of great depth and beauty.

This book ranks among the 10 best titles I've ever read. Not particularly because of the narrative which is dang good, but Marianne Frederiksson has a very gentle way of addressing some of the most important aspects of life in a very gentle way. Family relationships, births, deaths, friendship and overarching question of the maning of life. This is done in a very gentle way as the story unreveals, and after a while i found myself equipped with quite a few thoughts which proved very enlightening to my own life. In the strong description of the lifes of the characters, you can't escape the feeling that life is all about love. Giving words to that feeling is not an easy task, but Marianne Frederiksson certainly achieves excactly that. This book made me realize something that I'd long forgotten about, but nevertheless carried along all the way. At the bottom line life is beautyfull and important. Money can't buy you love. Well in this case it can.

I just finished Simon's Family this afternoon. It was a very moving and powerful book for me. It was so intense in parts that I had to put it aside a couple times to let myself really take in what I had experienced from it. Thank you Marianne Fredriksson, I loved this book even more than Hanna's Daughters. Several parts of it actually took my breath away. Highly recommended.

Hanna's Daughters is a tale spanning three generation's of a Swedish family. It is told by Anna, who in a last ditch effort to understand her mother, gathers letter, diaries, and journals to read about her mother and grandmother's life.

The story is told through a series of flashbacks with can be disconcerting until you catch the rhythm of the story. The life of the three women revolves around mother-daughter relationships and the path our lives take as a result of the decisions we make.

Each woman struggles with similar heartbreaks (although they don't always know what the other one is/has gone through) They struggle with marriage, children, death, and finding ones self worth in a sometimes harsh world.

While I enjoyed the story (possibly due to my Swedish heritage!) I still felt the story plodded in some sections so I only gave it a three star rating.

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a time - I never had time to read, but one nicht I grabbed it and could not stop reading. For a few days and nights I lived with Hanna, Anna, and Johanna - all three of them remarkable women in their times. It is very much a "women's book", I cannot picture men liking it that much, because they don't know (and they CAN'T) anything about the sometimes difficult relationships between mothers and daughters. This book even taught me a lesson: talk to each other as long as there is time, don't put it off. It's a wonderful book that makes you laugh and cry! withought being KITSCH.

Hanna, Anna and Johanna is the tittle of Hanna's Daughters in its native Swedish, and I wonder why the tittle was changed in the English translation, the original is much more what the book is all about. This book is one of the most moving and wonderful books I have ever read. The story takes me back to my native Finland, Sweden's neighbour, and to the lives of many great grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers that I have known there. Some of them, just like Hanna, had to endure similar hardships in their lives, especially women in the 19th Century if they had a child out of wedlock. It was very shameful. It was considered a sin, and only the woman was blamed. Children out of wedlock were treated as outcasts. People's lives in old Scandinavia used to be heavily ruled by very condemning old religious values that almost all people practiced. It took strong feminists like Anna, and hard workers like Johanna, to change the old ways and beliefs. I also found this book quite entertaining. Marianne Fredrikson wrote this book very compasionately and humorously.

Not only do I not like books that portray Mary as Jesus' lover or wife, but ones that portray her as a prostitute also demean her. Mary Magdalene was NOT a prostitute nor does it imply that she was anywhere in the Bible. She was possessed of 7 demons which Christ cast out.

People should get their facts straight even when writing fiction. Artistic license is all well and good but this carries things too far

reading books is a great way of spending the train rides to and from work. With this book the rides were to short however. The story of Mary of Magdala, remembering her encounter and life with Jesus is refreshing and inspiring. The birth of Christianity and the life of Jesus is portrayed in a new way, through the eyes of a troubled woman and intermingled with her problems in society and her life. My view of Jesus was very much refreshed, and his teachings retaught in the view of a woman apostle. Highly recommended!

I read this book a few months ago; my mother sent it to me from Sweden, as she always does with Marianne Fredriksson's new books. This book gives a new perspective to Christianity; told by a heroine who loves and trusts no matter what. It also uncovers the dangers of relaying on words, rather than feellings. In reading Mary Magdalene it is easy to beleive that men of the church have hid the greater meaning in Jesus' teachings from us. In the book Jesus' words all make sence and yet fit badly with what we are tought from the bible. Marianne Fredriksson's books have a mystical and magical sence of revealing an alternative truth; she will never thrust it upon you, but will give you another (or several) new ways of viewing life and love. This is not her best book, but that does not say a lot!!! Try Simon's family and Hanna's daughters as well. If you read in Swedish you must read 'Den som vandrar om natten....'which is also set in biblical time and absolutely wonderful.

I like Hanna's Daughters and was looking forward to reading this one, but her choppy, unimaginative style of writing left me wondering if she was hurting for money. I found the development of the friendship between the two women and their children to be forced and unrealistic in the period of time she was covering ( about a year?) The emotions seemed exagerated. The sentence structure typically resembled what one might find in a grade school primer. I'm wondering if perhaps this is a result of it being translated from Swedish to English. At any rate, not a pleasant read, fortunately it was very short.

I've read all of Marianne Fredriksson's novels in the original Swedish and some in English translation. The translations, this one included, have all seemed choppy and forced. But this may have something to do with the original language -- Swedish often uses very short sentences. Still, it doesn't make up for the very thin storyline. It's as if she's run out of ideas.

If you've never read Fredriksson before, skip this one and go for her earlier books, such as Simon's Family.

Unfortunately, her first several books, which are her best, in my opinion, have not been translated into English.

The novel discloses how two women meet, become friends, and through time disclose their darkest secrets. Although the book kept my interest, it was written in a very choppy fashion between chapters and sometimes when switching characters. There were also some absurd descriptions of sexual abuse which I found to detract from the story. It was as if she tried to create a dramatic effect quickly and it floped. the development of the character who was her son could have been developed much further. She also could have written this book with an ending that would have allowed her to continue with a series of books following this friendship, but did not.

It was a fun fast read, but seemed to be written as a formula novel, and it was too choppy. Clean up the rough spots and you could have a much better novel.