Description

This is a story of silenced histories, of dark secrets in a land of midnight sun.

Finnish Lapland, 1947: Inkeri arrives in remote Enontekioe on a journalistic assignment, but her real motivation is more personal – this is where her husband was last seen before he disappeared during the war.

As her probing questions meet with silence and hostility, Inkeri begins to investigate the fault-lines in this small community. Her burgeoning friendship with a young Sami girl helps her piece together why the town does not want to dwell on the past, as traces of disturbing crimes emerge from the pristine landscape of snow and ice.

Publisher Review

'Reveals so much more about a war we thought we knew that it feels like a potted epic' - Guardian 'Evocative... an amalgam of detective story and history, which absorbs the reader from start to finish' - TLS 'A beautifully written novel and a thriller that will keep readers turning the page to find out the truth about this disgraceful chapter of Finnish history' - Harvard Review 'A strong, intense thriller plot... depicts the controversial landscape of 1940s Lapland ambitiously and beautifully' - Helsingin Sanomat 'Beautiful... a chapter in history that has rarely been visible in fiction... Rautiainen succeeds in describing the history of Finland's colonization and also gives a voice to the Sami' - Loostas