Thank you to Mikael Niemi for writing such a belter of a story. And then a thank you to Deborah Bragan-Turner who accomplished to do justice to a book of such beautiful melody and intense feeling. Whilst Niemi’s previous book “Popular Music from Vittula” was lighthearted and humourous, this one is dark, a true Scandi Noir and fairly violent.
Northern Sweden, mid 19th century is a rough and austere place. I fell for Jussi, the young protagonist, from the very beginning as he watches his beloved from afar. Jussi, having grown up in the wild after a rough childhood, is taken in and schooled by pastor Laestadius, a polymath with a keen analytic mind. When a young cow-maid disappears and the villagers suspect her to be the victim of a bear, Jussi and the pastor find clues that do not support this theory.
The descriptions of both sweeping, austere landscapes and intricately observed people populating this era of violent religious dissent are simply breathtaking. Absolute bliss to read!!

Oh I loved Jussi, I loved the Pastor, and I just got lost in this book. I found I was preoccupied during the day because I was worrying about these characters I'd come to care so much about. The passages exploring language were thoughtful and beautiful, opposite the passages of anger and violence. I didn't see the end coming at all. I will happily recommend this to my customers as their next 'something completely different' read.

This book is not for the fainthearted - it's a mix of romance and thriller and detective and history and while I never got a handle on everyone's names, their characters and stories were so fascinating that it didn't really matter.

This adds a new look at the traditional detective book.
Featuring a real life priest from the 1800s,and his Sami sidekick,they try to prove that a girl wasn't attacked by a bear,but by a man.
You don't really expect people in the 1800s to be thinking about distance between claw marks and how blood splatters... at least I didn't.
Enjoyable read,if a bit slow in parts.