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Stolen Paperback – Deckle Edge, January 31, 2023

by Ann-Helén Laestadius (Author), Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator)

4.4 675 ratings

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* NOW A NETFLIX FILM * AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *

A spellbinding Swedish novel that follows a young indigenous woman as she struggles to defend her family’s 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.

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.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This coming-of-age thriller explores themes of white male entitlement, rural despair, generational trauma, colonialism and gatekeeping with a nuance that makes you forget its Swedish setting. Scandinavia, it turns out, is not as cozy-cabin-core as Americans like to imagine. In fact, it’s just like us." —NPR, Best Books of 2023

“Stolen is an extraordinary novel. A coming-of-age-story you'll get lost in, about youth and heritage and the never-ending struggle to be allowed to exist. Although set in the coldest and most northern part of Scandinavia, I'm convinced it’s a universal story to be loved everywhere in the world.”—Fredrik Backman, internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Anxious People

"[Written] with sensitivity and insight for the subtleties of Sámi life." —New York Times

“A moving account. . . . The heart, and the great appeal, of this novel is its empathetic portrait of a young woman who flourishes in this harsh, but beautiful, landscape.” —Financial Times (UK)

"Like all good thrillers, the book moves quickly, but what I most enjoyed were Laestadius’s complex, sympathetic characters and her nuanced portrait of a way of life under threat." —Words Without Borders, Best Books of 2023

“Powerful. . . . [Laestadius] has neatly side-stepped cliches about Indigenous communities to reveal a loving portrait of a community fighting to survive. . . . What Stolen may do best is make clear how hollow words ring when world leaders talk about protecting Indigenous land and people. . . . Stolen is both a lesson and a warning.” —Grist

"A revelatory account.” —Kirkus

“Sámi author Ann-Helén Laestadius has written a fresh, devastating, and insightful novel about Sámi life and the struggle for justice in a rapidly changing world. A love for the imperiled landscape reverberates throughout this engaging read.” —Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of How Strange a Season

“Stolen is in equal measure a gripping and thrilling mystery as it is a testament to the continued beating heart of Sámi life. Ann-Helén Laestadius takes her place as an important voice in world Indigenous literature.”—Michelle Good, author of Five Little Indians

“Shattering and thought-provoking from the first to the last page! . . . An illuminating portrayal of a part of Sweden where villagers, neighbors, and families are set against each other through generations.” —Book of the Year Award Jury Citation (Sweden)

About the Author

Ann-Helén Laestadius is an author and journalist from Kiruna, Sweden. She is Sámi and of Tornedalian descent, two of Sweden’s national minorities. In 2016, Laestadius was awarded the prestigious August Prize for Best Young Adult and Children’s Novel for Ten Past One, for which she was also awarded Norrland’s Literature Prize. Stolen is her first adult novel and was named Sweden’s Book of the Year.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One: Okta CHAPTER ONE Okta
Elsa didn’t turn around. She straightened her spine and concentrated on finding her rhythm, but still she had to glance at her skis to make sure they stayed in the tracks. It was a little too dark to head out, but she was so eager.

Her cheeks were windburnt. From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of her dark hair sticking out from beneath her hat and turning silvery gray with frost. Her eyelashes had changed color too, and she could feel the cold moisture when she blinked. It was like she was becoming a different person.

The lake was crisscrossed with snowmobile tracks leading home and away. To neighbors and cousins. To the reindeer corral. She followed the widest track. She’d found her rhythm, and her skis swished beneath her. She was nine years old. A big girl now. With skis of her own, not hand-me-downs from Mattias.

She poled onward, her arms strong and powerful, with each glide long. She knew the house would soon be a tiny dot behind her. The lake gave way to forest, but she wasn’t afraid. She was never afraid, because she knew exactly where she was and could always find her way home. She didn’t usually go beyond the lake. But now she was big.

It was early January, so the sun had found its way back, but it hardly rose over the horizon before dipping down again, leaving a pink shimmer in the sky. Today the clouds absorbed the light faster than she’d expected, but it wouldn’t be pitch-black for a while yet. She would make it there before dark. The snow weighed down the firs and birches. It looked like they were all bowing to her, welcoming her home. To think, that they recognized her even with her frosty silver hair and new skis.

She heard the reindeer and skied faster, though her thighs were stiff. Her breath came faster too, stinging her throat. She must not lick her dry lips or they would redden and crack. She didn’t like the taste of blood.

No one was there now, she knew that. Mom, Dad, and Mattias were at home. It wasn’t time to feed the reindeer yet, but she was going to surprise them. Get the pellets ready, haul out the bags, and maybe even go in and scatter some of the feed. Hold the reindeer lichen in her hand so the animals would flock around her, not the least bit afraid.

The sound of a snowmobile starting up halted her in her tracks. Such disappointment. She wasn’t the first one here after all. The snowmobile was idling. She pushed off with her poles, almost silent, then grabbed the trunk of a pine and peered around it.

It was him.

She never said his name.

In his mouth, between taut lips, was something soft and downy. In his hand, a bloody knife. Elsa squeezed her poles so hard her cold knuckles ached inside her mittens.

He took the piece of ear from his mouth and stuffed it into the pocket of his grimy yellow pants, the kind road construction workers wore. The wide reflective strips flashed as he passed in front of the snowmobile’s headlights. The dead calf lay next to the fence, just outside the corral. He bent down—for what? To take it with him? Her throat betrayed her and he looked up. His eyes were searching, quick and deft, until he found her. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize her with her silver hair?

It looked like he was swearing, stomping toward her in his boots. His tongue bulged behind his upper lip, pressing against the snus to release the nicotine.

Then he grinned and pointed at her, holding an index finger to his thin lips—shhh—before drawing his finger across his throat.

Death. She knew that meant death.

He went back to the snowmobile, took a pair of black gloves from his pocket, and swung his leg over the seat. He was unaware that he had pulled out more than just the gloves. The small, downy ear fluttered through the air and landed in the snow. It bore the mark that proved the calf belonged to their herd.

He revved the engine, releasing the stench of exhaust, but also something undefinable that made Elsa’s nose crinkle.

She skied on shaky legs to where the man was last standing, removed her mitten, and picked up the ear. She wiped the snow away and got blood on her palm. It wasn’t the whole ear; he’d cut off just the outermost part, where the marking was.

She glanced at the dead body by the fence.

It was Nástegallu—Elsa’s reindeer. The white patch between her eyes, and her unusually long legs. Drops of blood covered her soft fur. Elsa’s reindeer, without her earmark to show where she belonged. Elsa couldn’t cry, couldn’t scream. There was a frightening clamor in her head. The thought that one day she would kill the man who did this.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner (January 31, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668007169
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668007167
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.3 x 8.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #46,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #176 in Native American Literature (Books)
- #294 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
- #5,634 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
4.4 675 ratings

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Ann-Helén Laestadius

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Ann-Helén Laestadius (1971) is an author and journalist from Kiruna, Sweden. She is Sami and of Tornedalian descent, two of Sweden’s national minorities. Ann-Helén lives with her family in Solna outside of Stockholm.

Laestadius made her debut as a young adult author in 2007 and has written seven YA novels and two children’s books thus far. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious August Prize for Best Young Adult and Children’s Novel for Ten Past One, for which she was also awarded Norrland’s Literature Prize.

In her books, Laestadius always returns to her roots in Kiruna and Norrbotten. She often writes about identity, language, belonging to different cultures, and the importance of family.

In January 2021, Romanus & Selling published Ann-Helén Laestadius’ first adult novel: Stolen. It has quickly become a favorite among both readers and critics, and it is a national bestseller. Stolen has been sold to nineteen territories around the world.

In September 2021, Laestadius won the Book of the Year Award for Stolen. She has also been awarded the Adlibris Award for best novel, and the Your Book Our Choice Prize, given by the Swedish Association for Bookstore Employees.

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Barkley

Easily the Best Book I've Read in the Last Year

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2024

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A fascinating journey into the lives of an indigenous group of people who are struggling to maintain their dignity and way of life. The book is full of suspense and engaging characters, but even more importantly, it teaches the reader about a people who are struggling to hold on to their way of life amidst bigotry and hate. In some ways, this book reminds me of one of my all time favorite novels : Things Fall Apart (by Chinua Achebe).

2 people found this helpful

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MFB

Stolen

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024

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This was obviously written for the YA market, yet I was compelled to read through to the end. Knowing nothing about the Sami except that they were ‘reindeer people,’ forced me to look up words often, and propelled me into reading a nonfiction about the Sami. I would have given it five stars, except the story was sometimes confusing about who was who.

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Lorin

Beautiful Sámi Fiction

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2023

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Elsa, a nine-year-old Sámi girl, makes her way to her family's corral one morning only to see her favorite calf murdered by a local man, who then threatens her life. Consumed by the shock of seeing the slaughter and the fear for her own life, she remains silent. Her family submits yet another report to the police, who do nothing despite the hundreds of slaughtered reindeer the Sámi have reported to them. Elsa and her community continue to grapple with these incidents of "stolen" reindeer for another decade, until Elsa decides that enough is enough and starts pushing for action.

This book is perfect. I don't know precisely how to explain how lovely the characters are and how deep the sense of community runs through this book. The main character is Elsa, but you become connected to her brother, her grandmother, her neighbors, and the reindeer collective as a whole. Like everyone in the story, I was shocked by what happened at the end of part one, and the way the book wrapped up gave me chills. I was deeply moved by this story, knowing that everything in it is based on the true experiences of the indigenous Sámi population of Sweden, and I hope that all readers grow as attached to this narrative and these characters as I did.

Just a beautiful book — I will read anything else by Ann-Helén Laestadius that I can get my English-speaking hands on!

8 people found this helpful

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Kristine I. Thurston

Powerful Work

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2023

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There are no easy answers in this beautiful book about the struggle to preserve the Sami way of life in the Arctic region of Sweden. The book is rich in sensory detail—we can feel the cold, the rub of fabric in the gakti and other traditional garments. We get to follow the main character, Elsa, from girlhood to becoming a strong young woman.

5 people found this helpful

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Melinda

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2023

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I agree with other reviewers that this is an important book in that it gives insight into a culture whose land has been appropriated and whose people and way of life have been abused by the wider population. But that doesn't make it great literature. This is the author's first adult novel, but it reads like YA literature, which is what she has written before. It is tedious to read; there is a 10-year gap between Elsa at 9 and 19 during which nothing much has changed. The evil Robert is a standard bogeyman with no nuance. The mothers also do not grow except for Elsa's mother, who starts going to an aerobic class and makes her bedroom into her own little Eden with a pink bedspread so she can escape the macho traditions of gender roles. Her aunt Hannah falls into despair after her brother's suicide and never recovers, and we keep visiting her in her despair. Elsa's brother Mattias is damaged goods from start to finish. I'd like to learn more about the Sami culture. I hope the author's next book is more nuanced, perhaps with the help of an editor who can push her to go beyond her comfortable envelope as a writer.

5 people found this helpful

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Denver Hawkeye

Cruelty to wildlife and despair at seeing a way o life slip away are central themes of this book

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2024

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Because cruelty to animals is such a central theme of this book, I had a hard time keeping my attention focused. But I was glad I managed to stay with it, because this is a good book and I wanted to know more about the indigenous culture in this part of the world. Recommended with 4 🌟 stars.

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Donald J. Hanson

If justice for indigenous people and the environment matters to you, read this book.

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2023

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Today I finished Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius. It is not a book I would have typically chosen, but I saw it reviewed somewhere; no idea where now, and I purchased it because it piqued my interest. It's about a young Sami girl who witnesses her reindeer calf killed as a child and follows how that affected her into womanhood. It is based on actual events.

This novel illustrates the discrimination against the Sami and their way of life as reindeer herders. They face hatred from non-Sami people in their village who resort to killing and torturing the reindeer the Sami depend on to survive. Unfortunately, the local police don't investigate these incidents, seeing them as minor theft, not understanding or perhaps not caring about the Sami's deep connection to their reindeer.

2 people found this helpful

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Marcie

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2023

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Love the story about a life so very different from mine.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

J. S. Wilson

Haunting, Beautiful, Worthy of Many Awards

Reviewed in Canada on February 5, 2023

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A chillingly beautiful novel that deals with societal prejudices in Sweden against the Sami indigenous peoples. I was struck by the similarities between how the Sami people were treated in Sweden and how Canada's first nations persons are also treated.

Amazingly beautiful scenes of nature and the raw and rough nature of living in Sweden's north.

This book deals with tough but honest topics such as prejudices, rural living, suicide, loneliness, power struggles between male and female characters, racism, first nations mistreatment, wealth and poverty, and more.

The writing is beautiful and I found the scenes easily seen through the mind's eye. On the other hand, the writing of animal torture and their mutilation may turn off sensitive readers so be aware of that prior to reading!

I received an advance copy of the book through NetGalley and the publisher, but my review is my honest and uninfluenced opinion. Thank you to the author Ann-Helen Laestadius for such a tough but touching work.

One person found this helpful

Grumps

a very good read (Scandi noir)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2024

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I liked this book a lot. The story line is compelling. There's nothing bad that I can say.

Glen

An important novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2024

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In what is often seen as the model example of societal structure, it surprises many to find that Scandinavia is still coming to terms with embedded ethnic discrimination of the Sámi population. While there have been some improvements in recent years, the land these nomadic people have historically called home is coming under increasing pressure. Their land, language and culture are under constant threat.

It’s against this backdrop that Swedish Sámi author Ann-Helén Laestadius sets her real-life-based coming-of-age novel, Stolen.

The picturesque snowy landscape of northern Sweden seems a peaceful, idyllic backdrop for a childhood, but when nine-year-old Elsa witnesses the brutal murder of her pet reindeer Nástegallu it’s not only the reindeer that is taken but Elsa’s innocence as well. At that tender young age, Elsa vows revenge and swears she will, in turn, kill the reindeer slayer one day.

This killing isn’t some isolated incident; however, the Sámi community faces a constant stream of threats, intimidation, and further killings of their precious herd. It is an age-old tale of misunderstanding and mistrust between communities, a world where the local Swedish community mistrusts those who speak the Sámi language, where the native dress can be seen as a provocation rather than a proud cultural tradition. Even within the Sámi community itself, there’s mistrust of those who have married into the community, despite their efforts to integrate.

It makes for a powder keg of emotions waiting to explode but, as the years pass, Elsa bides her time, the memory of the reindeer killing remains a strong formative influence in her life and, many years later, the death of another loved one causes yet more trauma and leads to a climatic thriller.

Laestadius draws on the rich culture of the Sámi community to infuse the work with a real humanity. Sámi dress, culture, and the challenges they face, both within their community and with wider Scandinavian culture, are craftly detailed through the lens of 9-year-old Elsa. Sámi language words are left untranslated to give further authenticity to the piece.

As Stolen moves on a decade the piece becomes, understandably, darker but this is more than a mere tale of revenge, Laestadius never justifies the actions on either side, the complex moral maze of what is justifiable revenge or when revenge is just as abhorrent as the original act is an unresolved question.

There’s a poetic style to Stolen, sometimes at odds with the darkness of the subject being described, perhaps down to Laestadius‘ background writing Young Adult novels and the initial chapters do occasionally seem to meander. As Stolen gets into its stride, that naivety gives way, and we get a compelling and chilling insight into the challenges this fascinating community faces all set against a page-turner thriller in the very best Nordic Noir tradition.

Frieda

Wow,I couldn’t put it down! Excellent

Reviewed in Canada on March 10, 2023

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It made you feel like you were there with Elsa 💜

Lex Hues

Utterly compelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2023

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I absolutely loved this novel and the brittle, claustrophobic world it evokes. It's a gripping and beautifully written story about a minority Sámi family trying to continue in their traditional reindeer-herding life in a small but modern, mixed community in Sweden, just north of the Arctic Circle.
It's a dark tale with some cruel twists, but there is hope here and, against all odds, Stolen has a big heart.
While out skiing on her own as a nine-year-old girl, central character Elsa accidentally stumbles on a neighbour butchering her favourite reindeer calf in the wilderness.
Terrified into silence, the youngster hides away the terrible secret as the years pass and her community is subjected to increasing prejudice and violence.
Tensions within the Sámi community take a toll on Elsa too, and in a society where women are expected to know their place, our protagonist struggles to find it within herself to fight for justice.
I started to read faster and faster as I neared the end of the novel, wondering how it all might be resolved and praying it wouldn't be another dark, grinding, pessimistic, Scandi-noir shrug of the shoulders-type finale. It wasn't and I wasn't disappointed.
The English translation is written in gripping, often poetic prose, and is a real tribute to the skills of the translator. A wonderful read!

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