gang of other homeless street children led by a 14-year-old boy. They live off waste, stealing, and earning a little money by watching the cars of the rich. A happy event is the birthday of Alfredo Bomba, which they celebrate in an empty house of a man who travels. Alfredo is diagnosed as terminally ill. To make his last days as pleasant as possible, the group wants to perform a play. Alfredo enjoys the performance in a theatre and dies. Watchmen notice the children and everyone is able to flee except Nelio, who stays with the corpse and is shot. Nelio dies nine days later. José decides to give up his profession and travel as the chronicler, telling Nelio's story, reasoning: "I kept asking myself: where does the evil in human beings come from? Why does barbarism always wear a human face? That's what makes barbarism so inhuman". Publication The novel was published in 1995 by Ordfront in Stockholm. It was published in English, translated by Tiina Nunnally, in 2006 by Harvill Secker, and in several other languages. Reception A reviewer in The Observer writes: "The genocide that forces Nelio out of his village and the degradation suffered by the street children are described in angry detail", but also sees that Nelio is "presented as an inspirational figure", even with magical powers. A reviewer for The New York Times notes "crisscrossing time and space in a story that is at once wrenchingly tragic and uplifting". Awards The novel was nominated for the August Prize and the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1995. In 1996 it was awarded the novel prize of the Swedish broadcaster SR P1. Films The novel became a 1998 Portuguese language film entitled . The film, a Sweden–Portugal–Mozambique co-production, was nominated for a Guldbagge Award for best film in 1999. Mankell and director Jens Monath produced a film, Mein Herz schlägt in Afrika (My Heart Beats in Africa), which was aired in two parts by the ZDF in spring 2009. It was based on topics from the novel such as the life of street children, the persecution of people with albinism, and young adults who are traumatized by spending their childhood as child soldiers. References External links Chronicler of the Winds Goodreads Chronicler of the Winds Publishers Weekly 1995 Swedish novels Novels by Henning Mankell Novels set in Mozambique