Review of FAR CRY by Alissa York (New Release)

4 Stars

It’s been a while since I’ve read Alissa York; I really enjoyed Effigy from 2007, but my last encounter with this author was her Fauna which I read over a decade ago.  (Somehow I missed her 2016 The Naturalist.) Far Cry, her latest book, reminded me of what a great storyteller she is.

Most of the novel is set in Far Cry, the location of a fish cannery on the northwest coast of British Columbia.  It is 1922.  Anders Viken, the camp’s storekeeper during salmon fishing season and its watchman during the winter, is writing an account of his life beginning with his departure from his home in Norway when he was a young man.  His story is intended for 18-year-old Kit Starratt for whom he is an honorary uncle.  Kit’s mother Bobbie recently disappeared and her father Frank was found drowned near his boat.  Having known Kit’s parents for years, Anders also tells of how Bobbie and Frank met and details important events in their lives together. 

Besides Anders’ first-person narration, we are also given Kit’s third-person perspective.  She becomes a fisher for the company that owns the cannery.  The job entails her being in a boat for five days at a time so she has lots of time to reflect on her life and recent events.  What is interesting with this dual narrative structure is that the reader gets her version of events, often incomplete or not totally understood because she was a child, and then Anders’ recounting which fills in gaps.  Anders knows much more than Kit does about the Starratts. 

In one respect, this novel could be considered a love story.  There’s Bobbie and Frank’s story, of course, but Anders also reveals the loves in his life.  His loves are secret and impossible because they’re forbidden, but his actions show that love is his motivation.  Of course, love does not guarantee happiness:  there’s a revealing conversation between Kit and a friend about Kit’s parents.  Kit admits that she doesn’t think they were always happy, but she knows they loved each other. 

However, the book also details life in a fishing camp/cannery at the beginning of the 20^th century.  Conditions in a cannery were dangerous:  “The cannery workers saw no rest.  There was talk of accidents  – all that blood and fish slime, you can imagine the cracked skulls, the broken limbs.  A spill of solder, a stumble against the boiling retort.  Fillers cut themselves on cans.  One of the slitters took two fingers off his own hand.”  The sights and smells are almost overwhelming.  When the camp opens in the spring, Anders mentions, “Already the water has begun to stink – the yards-wide streak of the shithouse drift, the waste of a hundred incomers or more.  In two days’ time the cannery will come clanking to life.  There will be blood on the waves, the sky wild with smoke and reeking steam.”

The discrimination faced by Chinese workers is also mentioned.  Chinese workers are hired at half the wage and housed in dilapidated, crowded buildings that are fire traps.  One character describes the riot in Vancouver in 1907 instigated by the Asiatic Exclusion League.  He makes a reference to the head tax Chinese immigrants must pay to come into the country and foreshadows the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923.  Yet it is the Chinese characters who are more honourable in their treatment of women. 

Anders is a very likeable character.  He doesn’t discriminate:  he is considered a good storekeeper by the Chinese because he charges them the same price as he does everyone else.  He looks after Bobbie, especially when Frank is away at war; he tries to protect Kit as much as he can; and he bails out Frank on several occasions.  He is not, however, a flawless person, something that is clearly demonstrated when he makes a dramatic revelation at the end.

The novel begins slowly, but tension ramps up.  Because of her past, Bobbie’s situation at the camp is not stable.  Frank returns from the war a broken man.  Anders’ trysts with a lover are dangerous.  The camp manager makes advances towards Kit.  And then there’s the mystery:  why did Bobbie abandon her family and leave with a Chinese man? 

The ending answers many questions.  In that respect, the ending is perfect in that it supplies a perfectly reasonable explanation for what happened.  Yet readers should be forewarned that the ending is not totally unambiguous. 

I highly recommend this novel.  It has an interesting plot, authentic characters, a vivid setting, and thematic depth. 

Note:  I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of STEALING by Margaret Verble

 4 Stars

This is a heart-breaking novel about the mistreatment suffered by Indigenous children in religious residential schools.

Kit Crockett, a Cherokee girl living in Oklahoma in the 1950s, is sent to a Christian boarding school.  Forcibly removed from her family when she is nine years old, she is subjected to prejudice and abuse.  Writing is a mode of survival for her so she keeps a journal chronicling her life at the school.  She also flashes back to the events that led to her being sent to the school. 

Kit is the narrator and she has a very distinct voice.  As would be expected from someone of her age, her perspective is sometimes naïve:  she admits to not understanding everything that happens.  Her narration also has many digressions; these create suspense as the reader wants answers to questions which she does not always immediately address. 

She is a fully developed character.  She is inquisitive, intelligent, independent, and resourceful.  Strong-willed, she is determined to survive in the school.  She thinks of her ancestors whose struggles help her be resilient and hopeful:  “our people walked the Trail of Tears.  We all were strong enough to survive anything anybody threw at us.”  Whereas others give up hope, “I’ll just put one foot in front of the other until I get to where I have to go. . . . Those that gave up hope and stopped on the road died in the snow.”  She is also determined to leave a written record of what happens at the school.  Kit is also lonely; her home with her father is in the country, and she is the first child to be picked up and the last to be dropped off by the school bus.  When she befriends Bella who lives in a nearby cabin, it is obvious that she craves affection and attention. 

It is Kit’s description of mistreatment that horrifies.  Cultural eradication is obviously a goal of the school since the Indian children have their hair cut and are given new names.  They are given the harshest chores and are kept apart:  teachers “really don’t want the Indians here to pair off.  They either think we’ll be a bad influence on each other or are trying to turn us white by keeping us apart.”  Sexual abuse occurs, and one of the girls makes a horrifying discovery on the school grounds.  I was interested to read that the book was actually written 15 years ago, but the First Nations boarding school scandal in Canada in 2021 lead to its publication.

The novel is very critical of religious bigotry.  Kit’s paternal grandfather is a preacher but Kit’s father says he “’wasn’t trying to save anybody’s soul, although he claimed to be doing that every day.  He was just trying to have power over people.’”  One of Kit’s uncles says that “self-righteousness is just another form of hate, one that’s taught in church.”  The most evil characters are those who consider themselves people of faith.  For instance, Mr. Hodges, the director of the school, uses Christianity to justify unconscionable abuses.  The murder of a woman of mixed race is considered justifiable homicide with no penalty, whereas the killing of a churchgoing white woman, though she is a hypocrite and absolutely unChristian in behaviour, is voluntary manslaughter. 

The title of the book is perfect.  Kit believes that “my whole life had been stolen from me” and mentions that “Mr. Hodges and the other people running this place . . . are stealing our lives.”  But stealing also means sneaking and there are indeed several characters who behave in a sneaky way.  It is the religious authorities who steal with impunity; one of Kit’s aunts says, “’A lot of people want to believe in preachers, Kit.  So it’s easier for them to get away with stealing and lying than it is for most folks.’” 

This book is by an American author but it mirrors a dreadful chapter in Canadian history.

Review of THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND by Donal Ryan

 4 Stars

Donal Ryan is one of my must-read authors.  This novel, like his others, is exceptional.

Beginning in 1983, it focuses on four generations of Aylward women living together in rural Tipperary.  There’s Nana (Mary) the widowed matriarch; Eileen, her widowed daughter-in-law; Saoirse, Eileen’s daughter; and Pearl, Saoirse’s daughter.  In brief, vignette-style chapters, we follow their lives:  their joys, sorrows, loves, heartbreaks, and struggles.  We see “a family of women living in a small house together and battling through their lives.”

Life is not easy for the women living in a small town with many small-minded, censorious people.  Because Eileen had a premarital pregnancy, she is estranged from her family and is called a slut and a whore.  Saoirse’s reputation suffers likewise.  And then there are the other events that intrude on their lives:  one relative’s involvement with the I.R.A., another’s intimidations, and another’s mental illness.  And there’s more than one death and suicide. 

What the book celebrates is the love and loyalty of the women.  Regardless of what is happening, the house is a refuge where they protect each other, “all wrapped up together in one bundle” from the sadness and cruelty of the world.  Of course, theirs is a “comfortable dysfunction” where they love each other with a “gruff constancy.”  Nana and her daughter-in-law shout at an threaten each other so they might seem to be mortal enemies, but “They had a way of being around one another that was based on each having a natural grasp of the other’s particularities and peccadilloes; they nursed one another’s wounds without ever seeming to do so, they fed one another’s spirits.”  I loved a scene where Nana hugs Eileen like a mother would hug a crying child, “as if to take from that child all their pain, and make it her own.”

Saoirse is the narrator and she makes Nana and Eileen the most sharply focused characters, but they are all fiercely loving and supportive.  Eileen inherits Dirt Island which she describes as “A bit of soggy fucking grass and a dirty pond” but it proves to be truly valuable.  The women too could be dismissed, but it becomes apparent that they are all queens.  Nana rules the roost; she can punish someone without saying a world.  Beneath her loud, foul-mouthed rancour, Eileen behaves like the titular queen and holds her head high.  Saoirse conducts herself with dignity in the face of others’ hostility.  And Pearl is described as “a perfect little queen, fat with love” who “ruled her little queendom with a kind of replete joy.” 

In contrast, men come across as weak and foolish.  Nana’s surviving sons, Eileen’s brother, and Saoirse’s love interest do not conduct themselves in an admirable fashion.  Nana describes men dismissively:  “they’re all sucky-babies.  You have to give them what they want or they’ll kick and scream.”  Later she tells her granddaughter, “You only get one life, and no woman should spend any part of it being friends with men.  That’s not what men are for.”

This book just feels so authentic and is written in a mesmerizing style.  The Chapter entitled “Immaculate” consists of only two sentences, yet it’s perfect!  And I love the novel’s messages.  If only we could all remember that “What could be known about people in their privacies?  No eyes could see beyond a closed door or into a heart.”  If only we could all live in “a quiet state of loving receptiveness and acceptance” of each other’s caprices. 

Review of THE FORCING by Paul E. Hardisty

 4 Stars

This dystopian thriller is frightening because it’s believable, given that what is described is already happening to some extent.  Just last month the Doomsday Clock, a symbol that represents the likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe, was moved to 90 seconds to midnight!

Angry at years of denial and inaction to address issues such as climate change which threatened the world, a government of young people has taken control of a unified North America.  All those older than a prescribed age are held responsible for the state of the planet so are punished by having their assets confiscated before they are forcibly relocated to abandoned towns in the southern U.S.  The narrator David, known as Teacher, and his wife May are moved from Calgary to Brownwood, Texas.  There they share an apartment with five other people.  Conditions are harsh in what is really an internment camp, but it’s his witnessing some violent incidents which convince Teacher they must escape. 

There is a split narrative structure.  In the present, David is 78 years old and living in Australia with his family.  He has decided that he must write about his experiences so there is a historical record.  He wants his children and grandchildren to know what happened.  The other part of the narrative is David’s story describing events beginning with his receiving a letter about relocation. 

Conditions on earth are hellish.  David mentions volatile weather patterns, melting icecaps and tundra, droughts, and fires increasing in frequency and intensity.  Islands and coastal cities have been submerged, lakes and rivers have been acidified, agricultural productivity has dropped dramatically, millions of people have been displaced, wars are fought for food, animal species are extinct, and coral reefs have degraded. 

Human responsibility is made clear:  we fill the oceans with plastic waste; we insist on “the continuous cycle of cheap, ever-changing disposable fashion, the permanent upgrade cycle of consumer electronics”; we’ve accumulated debt, thereby burdening future generations, and have done nothing to address economic inequality; “coal-fired power stations and refineries and mines [pump] shit into the atmosphere”; drilling for oil in the ocean has resulted in spills; and forests are cut for profit.  And we do little or nothing to rectify the situation:  “In myriad ways and at an infinite number of junctions, other choices could have been made, and each of those decisions would have ripped out through time and space and across all humanity, and the course of history could have been changed.”

I appreciated the reference to the role of fake news and misinformation.  David mentions people being “manipulated by all of the garbage on the internet and in the media, where any hack or grievant could post whatever rubbish they liked, camouflaging it as official, credible, where everything was exactly the opposite of what it claimed, where every site whose tagline claimed to provide ‘independent objective information’ was guaranteed to be a platform for extremist polemic, where facts and truth were garbled and mashed and cherry-picked to suit agendas.”  The narrator accuses a wealthy industrialist that when some people raised the alarm, he “’bribed governments, financed campaigns designed to cast doubt in the minds of people everywhere, paid celebrities and bogus scientists to confuse the public.’”

The protagonist is a likeable character.  He cares for other people and, like Kwesi and Francoise – two of his housemates, recognizes the need to work together.  He is introspective, wondering whether he could have done more, and living up to his nickname, feels it important to teach the world about the errors made in the past. 

The obvious villain is Derek Argent who epitomizes the worst of humankind.  He is insensitive and arrogant.  Greedy and self-centred, he is willing to manipulate and exploit others. For instance, he willingly takes food from his housemates but doesn’t share what he has.  Even when he purportedly has the interests of others in mind, it is revealed that his motives are always selfish.  His surname, a reference to the metal silver, is perfect because growing his personal wealth is his primary concern.  And he used his money “’to hide the truth by sowing doubt, spreading disinformation, and lies . . . [and] spent millions to make scientific fact look like a debate.’”  The portrayal may not be intentional, but I thought of Donald Trump.

There is tension throughout.  Many people are concerned only with their own survival and will do whatever is necessary to ensure that.  The internment camp has its dangers, but then so does the world outside.   Society has become intolerant so homosexuality is considered a deviancy.  Women are enslaved and treated as breeders.  David and his companions are warned about traveling south:  “’What remains is in control of pirates, miscreants.’” 

Despite the dire state of the planet, there is still hope.  We need to recognize our flaws:  “we lost sight of the natural rhythms of the places around us and began to believe that we were masters of everything we saw and touched, and so we ceased to wonder.”  David’s life in the present suggests that the natural world can recover and people can return to a simpler life more in tune with nature.  And “Every day is an opportunity.”  In the meantime, if we do not act, we are culpable:  “how we decide to use this precious ebb of time is what will determine the fate of the world and of all those we love.”

This is a powerful and thought-provoking story of how our inaction will have devastating implications for future generations who will have to rebuild what we’ve destroyed.  Terrifying in its realism, this is a must-read book.  Anyone not affected by it has not been paying attention to current events.   

Review of THE GREAT SILENCE by Doug Johnstone

 4 Stars

I decided to have another visit with the remarkable Skelf women who operate a funeral home and private investigations business in Edinburgh.

The events described occur a year after The Big Chill.  Dorothy is now in a relationship with Thomas and still housing Abi, a teenager with a turbulent family life.  Jenny has parted from Liam but is still anxious about the whereabouts of her ex-husband Craig who is still a fugitive.  Hannah, in a strong and positive relationship with Indy, graduates and is embarking on a PhD in astrophysics. 

Each of the three becomes involved in investigations.  Dorothy’s dog finds a human foot and, as expected, sets out to find the owner.  Jenny is hired by two adult children to investigate their mother’s caregiver whom they think is scamming her.  A postgraduate student asks Hannah to investigate the authenticity of messages that appear to come from outer space. 

And these are just the beginning.  There is so much going on; for example, there’s a kidnapping, a suicide, unexpected family reunions, a panther attack, and a disinterment.  The pace is perfect, with several surprises.  Suspense ramps up, as more than one of the women ends up in danger. 

For me, much of the interest lies in the women.  They are such authentic personalities, flawed and fragile but with strong, admirable traits.  They are loving, determined, and unstintingly loyal and supportive:  “the Skelfs were the support network, the comfort through all this shit.”  Their compassion is also outstanding; I love how they reach out to help others.  Yet they all possess distinct identities with passions of their own.  Dorothy loves her drums and Hannah is fascinated by science, especially physics. 

The theme could be summarized as connection - the interconnectedness of all things and the human need to connect:  “We are all joined to each other in millions of ways, from the subatomic level to the size of the cosmos” and “’We all need connection in our lives.’”  Near the end, Hannah thinks “about all the other people out there in the universe looking for a connection.”  Even the title, another name for the Fermi paradox, emphasizes this theme.

Anyone looking for a crime fiction that offers more than just a mystery and detective work should certainly pick up this series.  There is family drama, action and suspense, humour, insightful reflections on life, and truly memorable characters. 

I encourage readers to connect with the Skelfs!

Review of MAUREEN by Rachel Joyce (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This novella is for readers of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy.  The first is about Harold Fry’s journey to see his friend Queenie who is dying, and the second is Queenie’s backstory.  This third book, Maureen, focuses on Harold’s wife.

Ten years after Harold’s pilgrimage, Maureen sets off on her own journey.  After Harold’s encouragement, Maureen decides to drive north to see a garden Queenie had created; it includes a memorial to David, Maureen and Harold’s son who died 30 years earlier.  Like her husband’s before her, her trip becomes a journey of self-discovery.

Prickly and intractable, Maureen is not an immediately likeable person.  In many ways, she is Harold’s foil:  “Maureen was not an easy person.  She knew this.  She was not an easy person to like and she wasn’t good at making friends.”  She tries to control her world by compulsively cleaning.  She is angry and bitter and that comes across in the way she treats people.  She is judgmental and tactless.  For instance, when she has a disagreement with a large woman, she replies “that if the woman ate a better diet, she might not be so unhappy.”  She has closed herself off from the world and people, in essence, closing herself off from living. 

In the course of the novel, the reader gets to understand why she is the way she is.  She was raised to believe that she was someone special and that “the real business of life would begin with Maureen at the center.”  Though she realizes, “she was not so special after all,” a haughtiness remains as demonstrated in her assumption that she will be treated as a special guest when she drops in to see Kate, one of Harold’s friends.  Broken and grieving the loss of her only child, she has no time for anyone else and their problems:  “she did not want to dwell on other people’s sadness” and “there was only so much you could see of another person’s trouble without getting lost yourself.”  Maureen is a broken woman who has become defined by grief.  Disappointed and angry, she lashes out at others.

I love dynamic characters, and Maureen does attain some self-knowledge:  “a person could be trapped in a version of themselves that was from another time, and completely miss the happiness that was staring them in the face.”  She realizes how “She had lived her life as if she was owed something extra because he had been taken away, and other women’s sons had not.”  Circumstances force her to rely on someone else and when she is treated with kindness and compassion, her heart opens and she becomes less self-centred:  others too have “losses that were too terrible to bear.”  She recognizes the importance of being the world’s guest.

One problem I had with the novel is that Maureen’s transformation seems to happen too quickly.  She is an inflexible 72-year-old consumed by grief for 30 years, but a brief journey results in her several epiphanies?  In fact, her change seems to take place overnight.  To be convincing, a character change requires a person be capable of change and be given a credible time span within which to change.

Nonetheless, this novel is a compassionate and thoughtful examination of grief and how it can shape lives.  I was not as charmed as I was with the first of the trilogy, but this is still a worthwhile read.

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of WADE IN THE WATER by Nyani Nkrumah

 3.5 Stars

Ella is a preteen Black girl living in segregated Ricksville, Mississippi, in 1982.  Her life is not easy:  in a family of four children, she is the result of her married mother’s infidelity and has the darkest skin colour of anyone in the town.  She is ostracized in the community, neglected and physically abused by her mother, and sexually abused by her stepfather.  Then Katherine St. James, a white woman, rents a house in the black neighbourhood.  A graduate student, she is conducting research for her thesis.  Ella and Katherine become acquainted, but it’s obvious that Katherine, with her upbringing and traumatic personal history, has ulterior motives for befriending Ella.

Ella is a truly engaging character.  She is intelligent and curious.  With a strong belief in God, she remains optimistic regardless of what happens in her life.  Because she is an outcast in both her home and her community, she is desperately looking for love and a sense of belonging.  Fortunately, she has some people in the community like Mr. Macabe, Nate, and Miss Claudia who do support her and serve as a substitute family. 

The book is really Ella’s coming-of-age story.  Her experiences with Katherine result in her losing her innocence.  Desperate for affection, it is understandable that she is drawn to someone who wants to spend time with her.  As a result, she is Katherine’s defender until she gradually realizes that her friendliness is a façade.  She also realizes that she must learn to love herself; Mr. Macabe tells her, “’You have to become proud of who you are.’” 

The novel emphasizes the lasting impact of racism.  Katherine’s father was a Klansman who indoctrinated her into white supremacy.  She has tried to distance herself from him and his views but there are indications that she has not been totally successful.  The scene in Nate’s restaurant is so telling, not to say ironic, especially her reaction:  “’I don’t think he was going to serve me at all.  Can you believe that?’”  Her thesis is purportedly on the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on both Black and white Americans; though she claims she will be balanced in her approach, she actually seems to focus more on the economic impact of the movement on white Southern farmers as if trying to rationalize and justify their actions.  Is her motivation really academic?

This would be a great book for senior high school students.  There is much that they could analyze and discuss.  There are sections that are somewhat didactic, but on the whole the novel deftly examines the complexities of racism and colourism.

Review of STOLEN by Ann-Helén Laestadius (New Release)

 4 Stars

This novel, voted Sweden’s 2021 Book of the Year, has now been translated into English.  It focuses on the Sámi living in northern Sweden. 

When the novel opens in the winter of 2008, Elsa, the daughter of a reindeer herder, is 9 years old when she witnesses the killing of her beloved reindeer Nástegallu by Robert Isaksson.  Because he threatens death if she speaks, she remains silent about his identity.  In the second part, Elsa is 19 and has completed high school.  Reindeer continue to be slaughtered but the police do nothing.  Frustrated with inaction, Elsa speaks to the media but her outspokenness results only in her becoming more of a target for Isaksson so that her life is in danger. 

The Sámi and their way of life are constantly under threat from a number of sources.  Many Swedish people do not value the way of life of its Indigenous Peoples; the government is claiming Sámi lands for mining; and poachers like Isaksson hunt reindeer for sport and to sell the meat on the black market.  In addition, climate change threatens their livelihood. 

As I read, I could not but think of Canada’s First Nations who have also been subjected to systemic racism.  The Sámi are sometimes called Lapps when such a term is considered a slur.  Some people claim that the Sámi collectives steal each other’s reindeer; one man says, “’The Lapps were always going on about how their reindeer were starving, demanding subsidies to feed them.’”  When a temporary ban is placed on snowmobiles in the reindeer pasturage when the cows are pregnant, people complain that the Sámi are unfairly given “extra rights.”  Elsa’s grandmother carries traumatic memories of the nomad school which she was forced to attend.  There is also a high suicide rate amongst the Sámi.

The police do nothing about the many reports of reindeer killings.  Legally, the killing of reindeer is considered theft/property damage and so not a priority.  A policeman argues, “’Reindeer are on par with domesticated animals like dogs or sheep, so it’s not a matter of poaching.  Moose, however-‘”  But reindeer are central to Sámi life, an integral part of their culture and identity, so attacks against them are perceived as attacks against the community.  Elsa explains, “’But to us, it’s not a theft.  It’s murder, it’s a deliberate killing.’”  The Sámi attitude towards reindeer is eloquently expressed in the words whispered into a calf’s ear:  “’I do not own you, you belong to yourself.  You are only mine on loan.’” 

The development of Elsa’s character is exceptional.  We see her as a young girl and also as a young woman.  As a child she is fearful, but she grows into a fighter – a feisty, determined and brave woman who wants justice for herself and her people and their way of life.  Elsa also challenges Sámi patriarchal society with strict gender roles:  “there was no chance that the girl in the family would take over her father’s reindeer lands or become head-of-household.”   But “’what Elsa wanted was the prescribed male role.  Entirely by herself.’” 

Elsa is not the only character developed.  The point of view of other secondary characters connected to Elsa is also included.  The perspectives of Elsa’s neighbour Hanna and Elsa’s brother Mattias draw attention to the plight of young men.  Hanna believes that “Boys can manage” and don’t require emotional support, but Mattias’s thoughts suggest that this belief is false, the latter being confirmed by an article I read:  “Certain subgroups of the Saami – male reindeer herders, for example – are at greater risk of depression and alcoholism than their Saami peers” (https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/arctic/articles/2017/08/15/introducing-a-saami-centered-solution-to-substance-abuse).

I also appreciated that there is an attempt to humanize the villain, Robert Isaksson.  We learn about his background.  His being abandoned by a parent resulted in an upbringing void of kindness so his behaviour as an adult, though inexcusable, is understandable. 

The book touches on some heavy topics:  systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, graphic descriptions of animal torture, and mental health.  There is little humour, though I smiled at Elsa’s comment as a young girl:  hearing about her parents’ wedding, she “was grumpy that Mom couldn’t have waited for her [to be born]” so she could have attended the party. 

The novel begins slowly but tension does ramp up as the danger to Elsa increases.  What I most enjoyed is learning about Sámi culture.  I found myself going online to learn more and to see photos of the clothing and to listen to a joik.  And I learned that the Sámi count eight seasons of the year, each closely linked to the reindeer's natural migration and the reindeer owner's tasks during a year.

Read this book and then watch the Netflix film adaptation when it is released in 2024.

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.