A story of a love, of the past and of a silence that surrounds the heartache.
Author: Niina Miettinen
Finnish original: Israel-tyttö
Publisher: Teos, 2013
Number of pages: 234 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original
It is summer, and Kaisa is spending holiday with her grandfather and his wife, Katariina. When the grandfather withdraws to the shed with his mandolin, his memories and melancholy, Kaisa and Katariina pedal along the river-path to the town, towards situations in which fellers and preachers make their miracles.
If they don’t encounter a miracle that evening, they continue the search, for Katariina knows that there is one paramount marvel: the Promised Land, which has stirred her longing.
Kaisa becomes Katariina’s Israel Girl, and their friendship results in a joint trip to Jerusalem and its cobbled alleyways, where Katariina had lost herself.
Taking place at many different times, Israel Girl is a magnificent, translucent novel about passionate hopes and fears. Miettinen’s narrative reaches directly to the core of sympathy, loss and love that the reader can only hope that dreams will come true and that everyone will find their own promised land.
“Niina Miettinen’s Israel Girl is a skillful first novel. (…) Miettinen tells her story across many different time-levels, with Katariina’s story emerging with particular prominence. (…) The writing is well-rooted and physical. (…) The narrative is absorbing, time and place are drawn unaffectedly and confidently; the characters emerge vividly.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
”For a first novel, Niina Miettinen’s Israel Girl is surprisingly balanced, a small story. (…) The narrative sails back and forth in time, and Miettinen keeps the reins in her hands, emphasising details, raising expectations, unwinding the story. (…) Miettinen writes in such a way that everyday problems are easy to imagine, and feelings clearly recognisable.”
– Turun Sanomat newspaper
“Miettinen opens up Katariina, Kaisa and their family’s painful story gradually, revealing a little more of the past with every chapter, from the point of view of each character in turn. The book is constructed like a jigsaw. (…) Of all the tragedies, the most profound, moving and touching is the silence that surrounds all the heartache. Miettinen writes about this beautifully and often with overwhelming gloom.”
– Kainuun Sanomat newspaper
Also available:
Wild Rosemary (2019)
About the author:
Niina Miettinen