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From the internationally bestselling author of the "extraordinary" (Fredrik Backman) novel Stolen comes a harrowing story—inspired by true events—of five Indigenous children forced to attend a government-run boarding school in 1950s Sweden, revealing the emotional scars they carry thirty years later.
In the 1950s near the Arctic Circle, seven-year-olds Jon-Ante, Else-Maj, Nilsa, Marge, and Anne-Risten are taken from their families. As children of Sámi reindeer herders, the Swedish state has mandated they attend a "nomad school" where they are forbidden to speak their native language. As the children visit home only sporadically, their parents know little about the abuse they face, much of it at the hands of the housemother, Rita. Those who dare to speak up are silenced.
Thirty years later, the five children have chosen different paths to cope with the past. Else-Maj holds strong in her Sámi identity but has turned to religion for comfort, while Anne-Risten now goes by Anne to hide her heritage from friends. Nilsa herds reindeer like his father but harbors a lot of anger, and Jon-Ante struggles with traumatic memories from the school. Then there's Marge, who is about to adopt a daughter from Colombia, but can't help questioning if it's right to take a child from her homeland.
Then suddenly, housemother Rita reappears. Now an old, frail woman claiming to have God on her side, she acts like nothing ever happened. But the five former students have neither forgotten nor forgiven her. As the narrative shifts between each of their perspectives, the novel asks: If you had the chance to punish the person who hurt you as a child, would you?
Based on the author's family story, Punished is a searing novel about loss, memory, cultural erasure, and community that vibrates with righteous rage over one nation's greatest betrayals of its native people.
"Laestadius continues to illuminate Sámi life (see the acclaimed Stolen, 2023) in a tale inspired by her own mother's experience in such an institution...[An] empathetic treatment of personal strength and courage in the face of systemic exploitation and marginalization." —Booklist
"This novel, the second part of Laestadius's Sápmi trilogy, makes a significant contribution to understanding the destructive impact of racist ideology on Sámi people, culture and society in the twentieth century. Yet it is far from being a straightforward political pamphlet. Laestadius's portrayals of the Sámi characters are psychologically acute and compassionate." —Swedish Book Review
"Ann-Helén Laestadius's Punished is a revelation—a heartfelt exploration of identity, justice, and belonging, written with unflinching honesty and poetic grace. This novel doesn't just tell a story; it demands that we feel every heartbeat along the way." —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
"Through taut, concise prose, Punished alternates between harrowing 'nomad school' days and fascinating scenes from Sámi daily life. This richly detailed, compelling novel honors the difficult experience of five students while uplifting their ongoing struggle to protect their way of life. Laestadius reminds us that Sámi resilience is rooted in a fierce love for their culture and communities." —Diane Wilson, author of The Seed Keeper
"Punished is not only a well-written novel, but also an essential history lesson, the story of what the Sámi have been subjected to over the years." —Dagens Nyheter
"A page turner about revenge. You have to read it in one sitting... . A collective novel filled with life that has long been held back; immersive, brutal, and wistful... . There is snow, sun, and darkness, and it is incredibly powerful." —SVT Kulturnyheterna
"Ann-Helén Laestadius's novel Punished—a text that vibrates with emotion—is a rich tale that provides knowledge, powerful drama and, best of all: all of these Sámi words and expressions." —Västerbottens-Kuriren
This information about Punished was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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. She is the author of Stolen—which was named Sweden's Book of the Year, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, and adapted for a Netflix film—and Punished, both #1 bestsellers in Sweden.
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