Land of Snow and Ashes

This is a story of silenced histories, of dark secrets in a land of midnight sun. Finnish Lapland, 1947: Inkeri arrives in remote Enontekiö 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 Sámi 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. The haunting, gripping story of Lapland''s buried history of Nazi crimes during World War II, perfect for fans of Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius

“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

Finnish Lapland, 1944: a young soldier is called to work as an interpreter at a Nazi prison camp. Surrounded by cruelty and death, he struggles to hold onto his humanity. When peace comes, the crimes are buried beneath the snow and ice.

A few years later, journalist Inkeri is assigned to investigate the rapid development of remote Western Lapland. Her real motivation is more personal: she is following a lead on her husband, who disappeared during the war. Finding a small community riven with tension and suspicious of outsiders, Inkeri slowly begins to uncover traces of disturbing facts that were never supposed to come to light.

From this starkly beautiful polar landscape emerges a story of silenced histories and ongoing oppression, of human brutality and survival.

• | Author: Petra Rautiainen, David Hackston
• | Publisher: Pushkin Press
• | Publication Date: Dec 01, 2022
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language: eng
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781782277378
• | ISBN-10: 1782277374