Stolen (Paperback) - Ann-Helen Laestadius

**SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM** **THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE-BESTSELLER** 'A coming-of-age-story to be loved everywhere in the world' FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A MAN CALLED OVE ___________________________________________ The international sensation: the story of a young Sami girl's coming-of-age, and a powerful fable about family, identity and justice Nine-year-old Elsa lives just north of the Arctic Circle. She and her family are Sami - Scandinavia's indigenous people - and make their living herding reindeer. One morning when Elsa goes skiing alone, she witnesses a man brutally killing her reindeer calf, Nastegallu. Elsa recognises the man but refuses to tell anyone - least of all the Swedish police force - about what she saw. Instead, she carries her secret as a dark weight on her heart. Elsa comes of age fighting two wars: one within her community, where male elders expect young women to know their place; and against the ever-escalating wave of prejudice and violence against the Sami. When Elsa finds herself the target of the man who killed her reindeer calf all those years ago, something inside of her finally breaks. The guilt, fear, and anger she's been carrying since childhood come crashing over her like an avalanche, and will lead Elsa to a final catastrophic confrontation.

About the Author

Ann-Helen Laestadius is an author and journalist from Kiruna, Sweden. She is Sami and of Tornedalian descent, two of Sweden's national minorities. She has written seven YA novels and two children's books and been awarded the prestigious August Prize for Best Young Adult and Children's Novel for Ten and Norrland's Literature Prize. Published in January 2021, Stolen is Laestadius' first adult novel. A national number one bestseller, it has been sold into nineteen territories and has been awarded the Book of the Year. Laestadius has also been awarded the Adlibris Award for best novel, the Your Book Our Choice Prize, given by the Swedish Association for Bookstore Employees, and the Vasterbottens-Kuriren Prize. She lives with her family in Solna outside of Stockholm.