The recipe for Magni’s venison sauce made his mouth water. He remembered that Tobben told him they hunted deer and elk in the mountains every autumn. Perhaps he could introduce venison at the restaurant. Now that he was a full partner, he had a lot more influence in the running of the kitchen.

In the last diary Magni wrote about her husband’s passing: Agnar was heartbroken, but refused to talk to her about it. Instead he left on a ship. To meet my mum, Jack thought.

Ninni had also translated letters from Agnar to his mother.

‘Wow,’ he said.

Holly looked up. ‘What?’

Jack waved his hand and frowned as he read on. Agnar had stayed away from the island for a few years, leaving his mother to tend to the farm. Apparently she had managed fine without him. In one letter he told her she didn’t have to thank him for sending his wages to help with expenses.

‘It’s letters from … from Agnar to his mother,’ he said when Holly poked him.

‘From your father to your grandmother,’ she said.

‘I don’t know what Agnar was, but he was never my father,’ Jack said.

‘So, he was more like a sperm donor?’ Holly laughed when he scowled at her.

‘Let me finish reading, please,’ he said.

‘Sure, but you have to let me read it too,’ Holly said.

‘Uh,’ Jack said.

Magni had lived for Agnar’s letters. He’d responded kindly when she’d told him he needed to get married, have children who could one day take over the farm. She was sad he seemed unable to settle down. She must have told him her worries because Agnar had responded in a letter, saying perhaps it would happen one day.

Magni would take walks on the island and picture herself watching Agnar’s children play on the beach. It was heartbreaking. Jack was moved and angry with Agnar at the same time.

This is stupid, he thought. These people mean nothing to me. They are strangers. They are both gone. Magni never knew about me, and Agnar never wanted to know me.

Mental, he thought.

‘Are you crying?’ Holly interrupted his thoughts.

Jack frowned. ‘No, of course not. Don’t be daft.’

‘Well, something is affecting you.’ Holly took one of the original notebooks and opened it. She let her finger follow the spiky letters. ‘It’s a diary, right?’

‘Sort of. More like a farmer’s log book that she wrote in occasionally. There are so many recipes in there. And then there’s the letters Agnar wrote to his mother. He was her only son and she loved him. She wanted him to have a family and to be happy.’ He smiled. ‘It’s weird, isn’t it?’

‘A bit,’ Holly admitted. She handed the book back to him. ‘But mostly it’s nice and sad. I’m sorry you found out about them too late. I’m sure they would have been nicer to you than our lot.’

Jack closed the computer. Magni’s books brought back his fascination with the island. He realised he missed the place.