Clearing out
Rydde ut
Linguist Ellinor Smidt receives an unexpected offer to take an academic post in Finnmark. As part of a research project on dying languages she is assigned to study the language of the coast Sami. The writer Helene Uri also receives an unexpected call. The voice in the other end introduces herself as a relative. During their conversation, Helene Uri learns that her own great grandfather belonged to the coast Sami people. That is something her family has never spoken about. One story is fiction, the other is fact. Together they constitute a gripping novel about southerners and northern lights, about language and family, about words and belonging. And about how things and people can disappear forever.
— While Helene Uri was writing the story, her mother died – and this novel is also part of her grieving process. Uri manages to transform the two stories into an interesting and well composed novel.
“Convincing solemnity and stylish simplicity.”
Aftenposten
“From a literary point of view, this is one of Helene Uri’s most exciting books (…) executed with a living presence and an inquisitiveness that is bound to spellbind.”
Hamar Arbeiderblad
