When the Cranes Fly South

When the Cranes Fly South (2024) is a novel by Swedish author Lisa Ridzén. The novel examines aging, autonomy, and reconciliation through the life of Bo, an elderly man navigating loss and longing in a remote corner of Sweden. Bo’s perspective and flashbacks are interspersed with his caregivers’ journal entries, exploring The Need to Preserve Agency in Old Age, The Interplay of Painful Recollection and Longing, and The Comforting Cycles of the Natural World.

This guide refers to the 2025 Doubleday edition, translated into English by Alice Menzies.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, death by suicide, animal death, child abuse, suicidal ideation, antigay bias, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Bo, an elderly man living alone in rural northern Sweden, narrates his days directly to his wife, Fredrika, who now lives in a care home because of dementia. Bo remains in the house they shared and relies on scheduled visits from home carers who cook, clean, and help with medication. They note his condition in a logbook, with entries included in regular interludes between Bo’s chapters. Bo’s son, Hans, checks on him frequently and argues that Bo needs more support. Bo’s closest daily companion is his dog, Sixten. The central conflict of the present-day story concerns Hans’s efforts to remove Sixten from the house because he believes the situation is unsafe; Bo’s refuses to accept that decision.

At first, Bo describes his routines in great detail. He often drifts into fond, nostalgic recollections of his past, sharing his memories with Fredrika even though he knows that she cannot remember their time together. Bo tends the fire, drinks rosehip soup, and moves carefully through familiar rooms as he tries to preserve a sense of order. He keeps Fredrika’s scarf sealed in a jar to retain her scent. Since he is no longer strong enough, he must ask his carers to help open it. The care team includes people he trusts, like Ingrid and Johanna, and others he dislikes, such as Eva-Lena. Meanwhile, Hans calls and visits, urging changes that Bo resists. The standoff grows sharper whenever the topic turns to Sixten. Bo frames keeping the dog as part of keeping his life, yet Hans is concerned that the regular walks that Sixten needs mean that Bo will be tempted to leave the house and walk through the woods, which Hans believes is dangerous.

As Bo moves through his present, memories surface. He recalls his childhood on a farm with a strict father, moments of fear and flight, and episodes with the family dog, Buster. He remembers growing up in a landscape shaped by weather, woodstoves, and snow and later working at the same local mill where his father worked. He also recalls raising Hans with Fredrika, family meals, and seasonal routines. A pivotal recollection concerns the day when Hans returned from college and openly adopted political views that clashed with the family’s tradition by favoring the Conservatives, rather than the Social Democrats. Bo describes the distance that grew between father and son, as well as how it widened throughout the years even as they continued to see each other. They are both very alike in their stubbornness. Often, Bo wishes that he could speak openly to Hans, but he struggles to put his pride aside.

Bo’s friendship with a man named Ture provides steadiness. For decades, they have fished, foraged chanterelles, and kept up a routine of calls and visits. Ture has his own history with home help after a fall sent him to the hospital; he shares strategies for dealing with carers and the medical system, with the two men updating one another about their care. When Bo complains that Hans wants to take Sixten away, Ture listens and offers practical reassurance. The two men reminisce about the cabin and long-ago trips.

Bo also recounts how Sixten joined the household. After years of keeping dogs, Bo and Fredrika went to breeders in a nearby town and brought the new puppy home. Bo remembers training sessions and errands to buy treats, as well as the way the dog quickly settled into daily life. Soon afterward, the first signs of Fredrika’s decline appeared. Eventually, she needed to move into the care home, Brunkullagården. Bo continues to visit her with Hans. On one visit, she fails to recognize familiar things. The visits are brief, quiet, and exhausting for Bo and Hans.

Back in the present, the dispute about Sixten intensifies. Home-help entries begin to record Bo’s agitation about those who think that the dog should be rehomed. Hans presses the point in person and by phone. Bo pushes back and tries to demonstrate his competence. He adjusts chores, keeps the fire going, and attempts short walks with the dog. Despite these efforts, the situation turns worse when Bo is found outside, having taken Sixten for a walk and fallen down. The dog is removed. Afterward, Bo’s mood darkens. He refuses meals and spends long periods sitting or in bed, focused on the empty space where Sixten slept. The logbook marks skipped food and repeated reminders from Ingrid and Johanna of Bo’s bad mood. He blames Hans.

News arrives that Ture has died. Bo travels with Hans to the funeral. In church, a well-dressed man named Eskil is introduced to Bo. He has flown up from Gothenburg and appears to have been close to Ture, though Bo has not heard of him before. The exchange is polite and brief. After the service, Bo and Hans watch Eskil leave in a taxi and then go to the hall for coffee. Ture was gay, and Bo suspects that Eskil may have been a romantic partner; Bo rarely asked Ture about private matters, but he is shocked that someone so apparently important to Ture could have been kept a secret from him for so long. The day closes with Bo and Hans returning home. Ture’s absence joins the absences of Fredrika and Sixten. One of Bo’s sole points of comfort is his granddaughter, Ellinor, but he feels that she has sided with Hans.

Bo grows weaker. The carers take on more tasks, bathing him, helping him dress, and increasing the frequency and specificity of their notes. Hans keeps visiting. Bo continues to refuse food at times, insisting that noncooperation is the only gesture left to him. Bo spends more time recalling excursions with Fredrika, long-past workdays, and ordinary afternoons with Ture. As his strength ebbs, Bo lies dying in bed. Ingrid is present, and Hans arrives. The father and son speak quietly. Bo, who has struggled for months to show warmth, manages to tell Hans that he is proud of him. Soon after, Sixten is brought back into the house and placed on the bed. The dog settles against Bo’s leg in the position he always favored. Bo dozes, wakes, and dozes again. He notices the familiar smell of the animal’s coat and the weight of the body pressed near his hand. In the night, he imagines walks in the woods and water at the stream. Outside the window, the season is turning as Bo hears the cranes readying to fly south for the winter.

The carers’ book records the time of death in the early morning. A candle is lit. The entry notes that Bo died peacefully in his sleep with his dog by his side.