A review by tommooney
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
4.0
Another gorgeous novel by this masterful Norwegian storyteller.
It is the beginning of the Winter War and Russian troops are invading Finland. In one small town, the last of the residents are evacuating, leaving bonfires in their homes, 'gifts to Finland' they call them, razing the homesteads to the ground so the invaders cannot use them.
But Timo refuses to leave. The village idiot, they call him, but really he is just a simple logger. He was born here and will die here and is not scared of anything. So he waits in the sooty, ruined town, for the Russians.
This is a unique and intruiging story, set in the cold, bitter, beautiful Finnish north and told with Jacobsen's trademark spare prose. Not as brilliant as his International Booker-shortlisted The Unseen, but still a very fine tale, perfect for a cold winter's eve.
It is the beginning of the Winter War and Russian troops are invading Finland. In one small town, the last of the residents are evacuating, leaving bonfires in their homes, 'gifts to Finland' they call them, razing the homesteads to the ground so the invaders cannot use them.
But Timo refuses to leave. The village idiot, they call him, but really he is just a simple logger. He was born here and will die here and is not scared of anything. So he waits in the sooty, ruined town, for the Russians.
This is a unique and intruiging story, set in the cold, bitter, beautiful Finnish north and told with Jacobsen's trademark spare prose. Not as brilliant as his International Booker-shortlisted The Unseen, but still a very fine tale, perfect for a cold winter's eve.