Harriet Nordlund

Årddå — by the Tree Line

Ibbá, soon seven years old, lives by the tree line. Her only friends are her sister, her grandfather and the old man Ánndaris, and her parents. The village she is from, just north of the Arctic Circle, is surrounded by wild animals such as the four bear cubs a hunter once brought home for them to care of or the wolves cubs whose mother was accidentally shot as well as the many reindeers. The animals are her friends as well as her pets. Since the family is self-sufficient everyone has to work, and every person contribution is important.

One day Ibbá has to leave her surroundings and go to a boarding school. It is in stark contrast to her life in the village with strict rules, different culture and language. It was forbidden to communicate in her native language Sami and only Swedish was allowed to be spoken or written. The book follows Ibbá through her struggles to adapt in this new setting, being away from for home.

The author Harriet Nordlund takes us through the daily life of a Sami family in a rural setting, north Sweden, fully dependent on what nature has to provide. The story lets the reader follow the work with harvesting the hay in the summer, picking berries for the winter, smoking cheese, washing clothes in the spring and hunting in the forest for wings to equip Ibbá with.

Årddå is both a book for both the old as well as the young and askes us several important questions.
Årddå