
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world
Description
From the internationally bestselling author of the “extraordinary” (Fredrik Backman) novel Stolen comes a harrowing story—inspired by true events—of five Indigenous children forced to attend a government-run boarding school in 1950s Sweden, revealing the emotional scars they carry thirty years later.
In the 1950s near the Arctic Circle, seven-year-olds Jon-Ante, Else-Maj, Nilsa, Marge, and Anne-Risten are taken from their families. As children of Sámi reindeer herders, the Swedish state has mandated they attend a “nomad school” where they are forbidden to speak their native language. As the children visit home only sporadically, their parents know little about the abuse they face, much of it at the hands of the housemother, Rita. Those who dare to speak up are silenced.
Thirty years later, the five children have chosen different paths to cope with the past. Else-Maj holds strong in her Sámi identity but has turned to religion for comfort, while Anne-Risten now goes by Anne to hide her heritage from friends. Nilsa herds reindeer like his father but harbors a lot of anger, and Jon-Ante struggles with traumatic memories from the school. Then there’s Marge, who is about to adopt a daughter from Colombia, but can’t help questioning if it’s right to take a child from her homeland.
Then suddenly, housemother Rita reappears. Now an old, frail woman claiming to have God on her side, she acts like nothing ever happened. But the five former students have neither forgotten nor forgiven her. As the narrative shifts between each of their perspectives, the novel asks: If you had the chance to punish the person who hurt you as a child, would you?
Based on the author’s family story, Punished is a searing novel about loss, memory, cultural erasure, and community that vibrates with righteous rage over one nation’s greatest betrayals of its native people.
In the 1950s near the Arctic Circle, seven-year-olds Jon-Ante, Else-Maj, Nilsa, Marge, and Anne-Risten are taken from their families. As children of Sámi reindeer herders, the Swedish state has mandated they attend a “nomad school” where they are forbidden to speak their native language. As the children visit home only sporadically, their parents know little about the abuse they face, much of it at the hands of the housemother, Rita. Those who dare to speak up are silenced.
Thirty years later, the five children have chosen different paths to cope with the past. Else-Maj holds strong in her Sámi identity but has turned to religion for comfort, while Anne-Risten now goes by Anne to hide her heritage from friends. Nilsa herds reindeer like his father but harbors a lot of anger, and Jon-Ante struggles with traumatic memories from the school. Then there’s Marge, who is about to adopt a daughter from Colombia, but can’t help questioning if it’s right to take a child from her homeland.
Then suddenly, housemother Rita reappears. Now an old, frail woman claiming to have God on her side, she acts like nothing ever happened. But the five former students have neither forgotten nor forgiven her. As the narrative shifts between each of their perspectives, the novel asks: If you had the chance to punish the person who hurt you as a child, would you?
Based on the author’s family story, Punished is a searing novel about loss, memory, cultural erasure, and community that vibrates with righteous rage over one nation’s greatest betrayals of its native people.
Product Details
Publisher | Scribner |
Publish Date | February 04, 2025 |
Pages | 448 |
Language | English |
Type | |
EAN/UPC | 9781668045510 |
Dimensions | 212.7 X 139.7 X 30.5 mm | 347.0 g |
About the Author
Ann-Helén Laestadius is an author and journalist from Kiruna, Sweden. She is Sámi and of Tornedalian descent, two of Sweden’s national minorities. In 2016, Laestadius was awarded the prestigious August Prize for Best Young Adult and Children’s Novel for Ten Past One, for which she was also awarded Norrland’s Literature Prize. She is the author of Stolen—which was named Sweden’s Book of the Year, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, and adapted for a Netflix film—and Punished, both #1 bestsellers in Sweden.
Rachel Willson-Broyles is a freelance Swedish to English translator based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She received her BA from Gustavus Adolphus College and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, both in Scandinavian Studies. Other authors whose works she has translated include Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Jonas Jonasson, and Malin Persson Giolito.
Reviews
"A heartrending narrative of five Indigenous Sámi children forcibly sent to boarding school by the Swedish state in the 1950s. . . .This moving tale shines an important spotlight on a story little-known to most American readers.” —Publishers Weekly
“Laestadius continues to illuminate Sámi life (see the acclaimed Stolen, 2023) in a tale inspired by her own mother’s experience in such an institution . . . [An] empathetic treatment of personal strength and courage in the face of systemic exploitation and marginalization.” —Booklist
“Ann-Helén Laestadius’s Punished is a revelation—a heartfelt exploration of identity, justice, and belonging, written with unflinching honesty and poetic grace. This novel doesn’t just tell a story; it demands that we feel every heartbeat along the way.” —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
"Through taut, concise prose, Punished alternates between harrowing 'nomad school' days and fascinating scenes from Sámi daily life. This richly detailed, compelling novel honors the difficult experience of five students while uplifting their ongoing struggle to protect their way of life. Laestadius reminds us that Sámi resilience is rooted in a fierce love for their culture and communities." —Diane Wilson, author of The Seed Keeper
“An eerie echo of the stories of residential school survivors we have begun to hear in Canada. Written with clarity, sensitivity, and skill, Punished is a moving call to rethink the colonial legacy that has become the status quo in so many places around the world. The medicine of this story is that it will help its readers grasp the transformational change needed for peoples of all cultures to be respected and to live healthy lives, free of racist violence and cultural degradation.” —Andrea Currie, award-winning psychotherapist and author of Finding Otipemisiwak
“Though difficult to read at times, Punished is a testament to truth. I couldn’t put this book down and found myself meditating on it long after reading the final chapter. With every page, I saw my father—a survivor of Norway’s Sámi boarding school system—and I saw myself and our family. Ann-Helén Laestadius compassionately and courageously weaves the stories of survivors, their families, and their communities. Reading her work is like heart medicine and serves as an opportunity to reflect on our strength as Sámi people. It will take generations to heal the often-untold damages of the assimilative government-run schools for Sámi children, but what remains is a proud people and our gollegiella—the golden language. As one character muses, 'When they could speak Sámi, laughter returned.' This simple yet powerful line says everything.” —Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, award-winning filmmaker, producer, and actor
“Laestadius continues to illuminate Sámi life (see the acclaimed Stolen, 2023) in a tale inspired by her own mother’s experience in such an institution . . . [An] empathetic treatment of personal strength and courage in the face of systemic exploitation and marginalization.” —Booklist
“Ann-Helén Laestadius’s Punished is a revelation—a heartfelt exploration of identity, justice, and belonging, written with unflinching honesty and poetic grace. This novel doesn’t just tell a story; it demands that we feel every heartbeat along the way.” —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
"Through taut, concise prose, Punished alternates between harrowing 'nomad school' days and fascinating scenes from Sámi daily life. This richly detailed, compelling novel honors the difficult experience of five students while uplifting their ongoing struggle to protect their way of life. Laestadius reminds us that Sámi resilience is rooted in a fierce love for their culture and communities." —Diane Wilson, author of The Seed Keeper
“An eerie echo of the stories of residential school survivors we have begun to hear in Canada. Written with clarity, sensitivity, and skill, Punished is a moving call to rethink the colonial legacy that has become the status quo in so many places around the world. The medicine of this story is that it will help its readers grasp the transformational change needed for peoples of all cultures to be respected and to live healthy lives, free of racist violence and cultural degradation.” —Andrea Currie, award-winning psychotherapist and author of Finding Otipemisiwak
“Though difficult to read at times, Punished is a testament to truth. I couldn’t put this book down and found myself meditating on it long after reading the final chapter. With every page, I saw my father—a survivor of Norway’s Sámi boarding school system—and I saw myself and our family. Ann-Helén Laestadius compassionately and courageously weaves the stories of survivors, their families, and their communities. Reading her work is like heart medicine and serves as an opportunity to reflect on our strength as Sámi people. It will take generations to heal the often-untold damages of the assimilative government-run schools for Sámi children, but what remains is a proud people and our gollegiella—the golden language. As one character muses, 'When they could speak Sámi, laughter returned.' This simple yet powerful line says everything.” —Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, award-winning filmmaker, producer, and actor
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
Become an affiliate