Extract: Norwegian author Ingeborg Arvola's historical novel 'Wolf Tracks' set in 1860s Finland famine

Norwegian author Ingeborg Arvola's historical trilogy 'Songs from the Arctic Ocean' concludes with 'Wolf Tracks', set during the devastating famine that struck Finland in the 1860s. The novel follows Brita Caisa Seipajærvi and Mikkel Aska, a couple who fled Norwegian authorities across the border into Finland after serving prison time for their forbidden relationship.

Norwegian author Ingeborg Arvola brings her acclaimed historical trilogy 'Songs from the Arctic Ocean' to a close with its final volume, 'Wolf Tracks', a novel rooted in the harsh realities of 1860s Finland, when famine gripped the land and survival demanded everything.

At the heart of the story are Brita Caisa Seipajærvi and Mikkel Aska, a couple whose love was deemed scandalous enough to earn them a prison sentence from Norwegian authorities. Forced to flee across the border into Finland, the two — now parents to two small daughters — have made their home in a turf hut on the shores of Iijärvi, far from the Norwegian village of Neiden they once called home.

«We are never coming back to Neiden!» — a declaration that echoes through the novel as both defiance and sorrow, capturing the impossible choice the couple has made between their homeland and their freedom to live together.

Arvola's trilogy has been praised for its meticulous historical research and its deeply human portrayal of Sami and Nordic life across generations. The final volume continues this tradition, weaving together themes of displacement, forbidden love, and survival against the backdrop of one of the most devastating famines in Finnish history.

An excerpt from 'Wolf Tracks' is now available for Estonian readers, offering a window into Arvola's richly drawn world where the frozen north is both a place of beauty and unrelenting hardship.