Inspired by true events, Ann-Helén Laestadius's Stolen, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, is an engrossing coming-of-age story and a slow-burning thriller. It's also an extraordinary glimpse into the modern-day life of Sámi reindeer herders in Sweden struggling to balance tradition with the ever-changing context of modernity, xenophobia and climate change.
When Elsa, daughter of Sámi reindeer herders, finds her reindeer calf brutally murdered in the family pen, her life is forever changed. She realizes her love for the traditions of her people is more at risk than ever before, threatened by continued violence but also by increasingly warm winters that disrupt the reindeer migration patterns. Still, she cannot leave them behind: "Once you had gazed into a reindeer's eyes and understood, you realized you had no choice but to be right there." As Elsa and her family teeter between past traditions and modernization, the bleakness of their situation comes to a head in ways at once predictable and entirely surprising, pitting a strong young woman against systems much larger than herself in an attempt to honor the legacy she has inherited. "Being Sámi meant carrying your history with you, to stand before that heavy burden as a child and choose to bear it or not. But how could you choose not to bear your family's history and carry on your inheritance?"
With incredible cultural detail about the Sámi people and traditions of reindeer herding, Laestadius offers readers a glimpse into an oft-overlooked segment of the Swedish population. Stolen, bold and gripping from start to finish, is a tribute to a people, a place and a way of life. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer