Homestead

One house, four centuries of family secrets. A veteran of the Thirty Years' War, Mats finds a home in the wilderness of western Finland, in a place called Nevabacka, surrounded by forests and wetlands. He suspects that there are other creatures than animals and birds living here. The locals are in good terms with them, or they avoid them, and now and then someone sacrifices something to them, secretly, because it contradicts the teachings of the Church. Mats comes from far away, so he doesn't know much about these creatures, and he has a son with a mysterious forest woman. Generations of his descendants, blessed with a drop of wild blood, have experienced the effects of war, famine and social change right up to the present day. For them, the power of nature remains decisive - the roots of people and forest are intertwined. Many historical facts appear in the narrative, such as the witch trials of the late 17th century. This family saga is a worthy follow-up to the seminal work of magical realism, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez. The novel was awarded the YLE 2022 award for the best Finnish-Swedish book of the year. It has been published in 20 languages so far and won the Litera for translation 2025 in the Czech Republic. "The novel is an allegory of Finland [...] it delves deep into the Finns' relationship with nature [...] it sings of the Finnish wetlands. It shows readers their mystery, beauty and uniqueness. The swamp and its spirits demand respect." - Helsingin Sanomat "The author pays attention to period realities, which she interweaves with fascinating human stories, and tells an original tale full of strength and fragility. In it, he offers inspiring food for thought on, where we come from, how the past and the place affect us, on which we live, and what will be left behind for future generations." - lacultura.cz "It's a literary gem showing tradition and superstition, the original life of the inhabitants." - culture21.cz "Czech readers are introduced to one of the distinctive faces of contemporary Finnish-Swedish literature, a sophisticated and poetic saga of a family living in the region, that we haven't had a chance to look into yet." - iLiteratura.cz He woke up, he could barely breathe. The place where his son had lain down was empty. Mats jumped up and looked around at the moors, which rested quietly and peacefully in the light twilight of the summer night. He called for Henrik, to no avail. He was seized with terror, he ran round and round in the mud, shouting and calling, but there was no answer and no sign of his son. He fell on his knees and shouted a prayer loudly into the wetlands and the forests, to get his baby back, he'll do anything, whatever they want, he promised, only if he gets that one thing back, what he loved in life. The moors remained dark and still. The birds did not sing, nor did the woodpecker call. All you could hear were thousands of blood-sucking mosquitoes. - excerpt from the book