Ann-Helén Laestadius

Elsa is nine years old and the daughter of Sami reindeer herders. When she goes skiing alone one evening to the corral to feed the reindeer herd, she witnesses a man from a neighbouring village brutally killing her reindeer calf, Nástegallu. The man threatens Elsa to keep quiet. Elsa carries the secret like a dark weight on her heart for ten years. Meanwhile, the hatred and threats against the Sami keep escalating, and the police pass the brutal killing of the animals unnoticed. So Elsa contacts journalists, and in doing so, she turns the poachers against herself. The fear, anger, and guilt that Elsa has been suppressing since childhood come crashing over her like an avalanche when she faces Robert Isaksson, the man who once killed her reindeer.

Vydalo nakladatelství Kniha Zlín, 2022

Ann-Helén Laestadius (* 1971), a writer and journalist, was born in Kiruna, Sweden, and has Sami and Tornedalian roots. She has published several books for children and young people, one of which won the prestigious August Prize for Swedish children’s literature. Her books often focus on her home region, exploring themes such as identity, language, belonging to different cultures, and the importance of family. It was real events that inspired her novel Stolen (2021).