Burn the Land
After four years in prison, Elin has served her sentence. She returns to her childhood home in Småland to start a new life, and to reunite with her five-year-old son Axel, who lives there with his grandma, Elin’s mother, Helena. But Elin isn’t wanted there. Her sudden appearance turns their lives upside-down. Helena reluctantly allows her to stay, but claims that under no circumstances can she take Axel away from there, not until she has found a job and a secure existence for them both. The problem is that neither the outside world nor Elin herself seem to be ready to forgive what she has done. That she took a man’s life.
In her mother’s new boyfriend, Elin finds someone to confide in. He evokes feelings and memories she thought where long gone. But what are those memories trying to tell her? Is the danger she senses, both in terms of herself and her son, real, or just in her head? All awhile the search for a missing local girl continues, casting shadows of suspicion over the past and the present.
Burn the Land is a suspenseful novel about courage and having the bravery to do what is right – even if it means sacrificing everything.
Emma Nordlander (b. 1986) grew up in Småland and now lives in Gothenburg. She made her debut with the critically acclaimed The Cat Children (2013). Burn the Land is her second novel.
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About the book
After four years in prison, Elin has served her sentence. She returns to her childhood home in Småland to start a new life, and to reunite with her five-year-old son Axel, who lives there with his grandma, Elin’s mother, Helena. But Elin isn’t wanted there. Her sudden appearance turns their lives upside-down. Helena reluctantly allows her to stay, but claims that under no circumstances can she take Axel away from there, not until she has found a job and a secure existence for them both. The problem is that neither the outside world nor Elin herself seem to be ready to forgive what she has done. That she took a man’s life.
In her mother’s new boyfriend, Elin finds someone to confide in. He evokes feelings and memories she thought where long gone. But what are those memories trying to tell her? Is the danger she senses, both in terms of herself and her son, real, or just in her head? All awhile the search for a missing local girl continues, casting shadows of suspicion over the past and the present.
Burn the Land is a suspenseful novel about courage and having the bravery to do what is right – even if it means sacrificing everything.
