Stolen

November 28, 2022
In Laestadius’s nuanced English-language debut, the fragile peace of a Sámi tribal community in Arctic Lappland is shattered when a poacher begins to prey on their sacred reindeer herd. Nine-year-old Elsa witnesses a poaching in 2008, and after the police refuse to investigate, she keeps quiet about it in order to protect her family. Eventually, the Sámi begin to push back against escalating threats of violence from neighbors if they refuse to keep silent about the poaching, and amid the tension and danger Elsa loses an uncle to suicide and her brother becomes estranged from the family. At the heart of the tribe’s plight is that they regard the poaching as murder, while the unsympathetic authorities see it as simple theft. As Elsa grows up under the shadow of her peoples’ continued exploitation by the poachers, she dreams of revenge against them, but is unprepared for the fallout in 2018 after a poacher is found dead. Though the pace can be slack, the sense of place and character development make for an affecting portrait of the Sámi’s disenfranchisement. It’s a solid story of a family torn apart by cultural tensions.

Starred review from June 10, 2024

In her English-language debut novel, soon to be a Netflix film, award-winning Swedish journalist and author Laestadius, whose mother comes from a traditional reindeer-herding family, vividly depicts the human and environmental threats to the S�mi way of life. Nine-year-old Elsa is checking on her family's herd when she sees a man brutally kill her favorite reindeer. When he sees that she's spotted him, he threatens her, so she keeps silent when she accompanies her father to the police station. Whether she spoke up or not probably wouldn't matter, however, because year after year, the police stand by while Elsa's family, and others in their community, lose reindeer after reindeer to those trying to make the S�mi feel unwelcome on their own land. While some attacks are motivated by those who desire S�mi land for mining, most are simply racist. Jade Wheeler's emotionally attuned performance captures the fear, despair, and rage of Elsa, her family, and all of Laestadius's well-drawn secondary characters--including the reindeer killers themselves. VERDICT With Wheeler's musical S�mi language pronunciations and Laestadius's atmospheric prose, listeners are transported to this fragile Arctic landscape. Those who like social justice stories will cherish this unforgettable coming-of-age story and performance.--Beth Farrell

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