#46. Featuring Indigenous Culture – Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius (Audible)

I originally planned to use “There There” by Tommy Orange as my book for the ‘indigenous culture’ prompt, but the ending was so abrupt, I had to use it for #33. Instead I came across this book “Stolen” which has now been made into a film for Netflix, as always, I wanted to read the book before watching the film…and I’m glad I did – the book was much better than the film!

“On a winter day north of the Arctic Circle, nine-year-old Elsa—daughter of Sámi reindeer herders—sees 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 “stolen” animals. Killings like these are classified as theft in the reports that continue to pile up, uninvestigated. But reindeer are not just the Sámi’s livelihood, they also hold spiritual significance; attacking a reindeer is an attack on the culture itself.

Ten years later, hatred and threats against the Sámi keep escalating, and more reindeer are tortured and killed in Elsa’s community. Finally, she’s had enough and decides to push back on the apathetic police force. The hunter comes after her this time, leading to a catastrophic final confrontation.

Based on real events, Ann-Helén Laestadius’s award-winning novel Stolen is part coming-of-age story, part love song to a disappearing natural world, and part electrifying countdown to a dramatic resolution—a searing depiction of a forgotten part of Sweden.”

Despite the content of this book, I found myself enjoying this novel. It was the perfect book to read in the winter months, especially as not much snow falls in December where I live! It was nice to travel from the comfort of my home to the freezing north of Sweden and to the lives of the Sámi and to learn about the lives of a population we hear very little about.

This is not your typical coming of age story. The book evolves around nine-year-old Elsa, who, during the Artic Winter, skis cross-country to the family reindeer corral to see her beloved reindeer Nastegallu. As she arrives, she witnesses the brutal killing of her reindeer calf by a local hunter, Robert. Interrupted by Elsa’s appearance, he leaves behind the body of her reindeer and sets off home on his snowmobile, but not before he threatens to kill Elsa if she ever tells anybody that he slaughtered her reindeer.

The terrified Elsa notices he has dropped Nastegallu’s ear which he has removed so that no-one would know the identity of the reindeer, and she pockets the ear in remembrance of the animal she loved and has now lost. Elsa’s brother thinks he knows it was Robert who killed the reindeer, but he can’t prove it, and he is angry that Elsa will not tell him what she saw when she visited the corral. The family knows their reindeer are being killed by a local poacher who sells the meat illegally, but they also know the police do not take their reports seriously, and this is shown when Elsa is taken to the police station to report the killing of Nastegallu. She is too terrified to tell the truth, and so the poaching is treated as theft and the matter is closed.

This book gives an insight into how the Sámi are viewed by the local townsfolk and the difficulties they face as their indigenous traditions are met with scepticism, and how they are expected to change with the modern world that is taking over the lands they have roamed for generations. Elsa is such a believable character, torn between wanting to do the right thing, but terrorised by the racism and ignorance that surrounds her. Elsa’s secret will torment her throughout her childhood. We follow her journey through a tumultuous childhood and into adulthood, a decade later, things have not got any better for either Elsa or the Sámi community.

Tensions remain high between the Sámi reindeer herders and the local villagers, who are fed up with the reindeer, and the concessions they are supposed to make in order that they can roam freely, especially during calving season. This is a simple story about community and family, told from the eyes of a child growing up, but with the sinister undertone of a Nordic noir thriller.

As Elsa reaches maturity, the tone of the book shifts slightly and becomes darker. There are descriptions of the brutal nature of the torture and killing of reindeer, which is not for the faint hearted, but is an integral part of the story. These details make you, as a reader, understand why the Sámi are so angry and upset at being ignored by people in authority. Elsa now has the courage to stand up to the local police and publicly criticises their ineptitude in dealing with the crimes against the Sámi. Whilst this brings their plight to the public’s attention, it also angers the males in the indigenous community, as they believe she is just going to make matters worse for them.

Although Stolen is a work of fiction, a lot of the tale is based on fact. Before she set to work on writing the book, Laestadius accessed over 100 police reports relating to the torture and killing of reindeer. She noted that none of the reports were fully investigated, and no prosecutions were made. Her mother’s side of the family were Sámi reindeer herders, and so she was able to delve into that personal history and listen to their stories of perpetual violence towards them and their herds. To the Sámi, their reindeer were more than just animals, more than pieces of meat, fur, an income, or provider of transportation; the reindeer were a part of them, a part of their culture, and ripping apart their animals was ripping apart their heritage.

Laestadius grew up aware that being Sámi was unacceptable, and it was especially hard for the males who wanted to continue the family traditions and become reindeer herders in this fast-moving modern world. In Stolen, Elsa’s world is changed dramatically when someone from her extended family commits suicide. He felt he had no choice but to work in the mine that had opened, but in doing so, he was now complicit to the problems that the reindeer herders were facing when they were forced to concede their grazing land to the mining industry. These pressures of conflict are dealt with compassion in the book, and it is no wonder, Laestadius lost two cousins to suicide, both were young men. 

Whilst Stolen might sound like a depressing book, there is an abundance of warmth running through it. Despite the hardships this community is expected to endure, Laestadius has ensured she shows the closeness of these families, how grandparents share their skills and traditions and hand them on to the next generation. I felt engaged with the community as they sang traditional Sámi songs, and wore the traditional colourful gákti which reminded me of the passion of the Welsh when they celebrate their Celtic heritage at the Eisteddfod’s.  

In this book I learnt about the Sámi’s routines with their reindeer, what happens during the calving season, how to mark the animals by making cuts in their ears and how they must separate the herd. When Elsa marks the calves, she whispers to them: “I don’t own you, you belong to yourself. You are only mine on loan.” This feels so poignant in terms of her connection to Nastegallu as a young girl.

Stolen is a wonderful, but shocking, journey through one woman’s account of the persecution an entire community is forced to live with and the repercussions it has on that community when their language, culture and land is taken away from them; and sadly, it is a story that can be told by many indigenous cultures. Even now, news reports show how China is accused of forcing 1 million Tibetan children to forget about their language and culture in indoctrination boarding schools, where they face abuse, anxiety and depression. It is a sad and sobering thought.  

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Indigenous, Crime, Nordic noir 

Release Date: 2nd February 2023

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Listening Time: 13h 13m

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