Description

An ancestry test suggesting she shared some DNA with the Sami people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic tundra, tapped into Laura Galloway’s wanderlust; an affair with a Sami reindeer herder ultimately led her to leave New York for the tiny town of Kautokeino, Norway. When her new boyfriend left her unexpectedly after six months, it would have been easy, and perhaps prudent, to return home. But she stayed for six years.

Dalvi is the story of Laura’s time in a reindeer-herding village in the Arctic, forging a solitary existence as she struggled to learn the language and make her way in a remote community for which there were no guidebooks or manuals for how to fit in. Her time in the North opened her to a new world. And it brought something else as well: reconciliation and peace with the traumatic events that had previously defined her – the sudden death of her mother when she was three, a difficult childhood and her lifelong search for connection and a sense of home.

Both a heart-rending memoir and a love letter to the singular landscape of the region, Dalvi explores with great warmth and humility what it means to truly belong.

Publisher Review

Meeting Laura Galloway in the pages of her memoir has been like dropping into the incredible life of someone who inspires you to the moon and back. How far would you go to save your own life? For Laura the answer is to the ends of the earth. This astonishing, tender, jaw-dropping story is a page turner. Take this unforgettable journey with Laura and return with gems for your own life. -- Sheri Salata, author of THE BEAUTIFUL NO: AND OTHER TALES OF TRIAL, TRANSCENDENCE AND TRANSFORMATION Laura Galloway's account of her escape to a new life in the Arctic tundra is an enchanting tale of courage, hope and breath-taking grit. I loved it. -- Christina Patterson, author of THE ART OF NOT FALLING APART An affecting memoir and a paean to the singular climate and landscape of the Arctic, Dalvi (winter in northern Sami) is a profound exploration of connections lost and found. * Traveller * [A] fascinating memoir. * The New European * Remarkable...intriguing...readers can't help but be impressed by her drive * Los Angeles Review of Books * [T]his remarkable memoir is as stirring as it is gripping... a joyous, life-affirming read. * LoveReading *