LAESTADIUS, ANN-HELÉN
* SOON TO BE A NETFLIX FILM * AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *nnA spellbinding Swedish novel that follows a young indigenous woman as she struggles to defend her familyu2019s reindeer herd and culture amidst xenophobia, climate change, and a devious hunter whose targeted kills are considered mere theft in the eyes of the law.nnOn a winter day north of the Arctic Circle, nine-year-old Elsau2014daughter of Sámi reindeer herdersu2014sees a man brutally kill her beloved reindeer calf and threaten her into silence. When her father takes her to report the crime, local police tell them that there is nothing they can do about these u201cstolenu201d animals. Killings like these are classified as theft in the reports that continue to pile up, uninvestigated. But reindeer are not just the Sámiu2019s livelihood, they also hold spiritual significance; attacking a reindeer is an attack on the culture itself.
