CLOUDBERRY MIRE (HJORTRONMYREN)
Ulrika Lagerlöf
A wuthering love story set in the magnificent forests of Sweden, that lifts forgotten female heroes and climate issues spanning over generations.
Cloudberry Mire unfolds in two parallel timelines, following the young girl Siv, who works as a female cook in a forest cabin in northern Sweden in the late 1930s, and her granddaughter Eva, who works for a logging company in the present day.
In 1938, Siv is sent by her family to work as a cook in a forest cabin in northern Sweden. Deep in the forest, in severe cold, she must wash the dishes, fetch firewood and water, keep the cabin warm and clean and put food on the table for ten men. It becomes a transformative experience where both liberation and the love of her life await.
In 2022 Eva is sent to the small community Djupsele in northern Sweden by her employer to quell wild protests against deforestation. As tensions escalate, she must confront the media, environmental activists, and the Sami village, but in the wake of the conflict, she also finds clues to her own family history.
Cloudberry Mire marks the beginning of a series of novels where women take center stage in the narrative of the magnificent Swedish forest and the conflicts surrounding it. The second part, Pale Soil unfolds in the late 1940s, and the third, Heartwood in the late 1950s.
Rights
Denmark: Alpha
Finland: Otava
France: Buchet Chastel
Germany: Gutkind
Italy: Corbaccio
Netherlands: Uitgeverij Mozaïek
Norway: Aschehoug
Sweden: Romanus & Selling
REVIEWS
“I enjoy the story’s many nuanced character portraits – and I am impressed that the novelist does not shy away from depicting female erotic desire. Then. Now.”
Västerbottens-Kuriren / SWE
“It is interesting to read the chapters about Siv that offers a credible and sensitive portrayal of a completely different era with limited freedom for women. The subject of media-trained forestry companies and upset environmental activists also feels very relevant. […] a delicate love story that manages to provide an impressively wide range of perspectives on the Swedish forestry debate.”
Upsala Nya Tidning / SWE