Reviewer: Sharon Brunner
Elin Anna Labba’s The Home of the Drowned offered a story about a multigenerational struggle for Sámi women when they fought to hold onto their way of life. They were forced to endure the horrible actions of a powerful hydropower company and government officials while their summer homes were flooded, and they faced harsh conditions while they survived in improper housing. The story took place between 1942 and 1982 in Myran, a little settlement and also a village west of Myran by a lake, in the country of Sweden. Their cultural customs involved the care and upkeep of reindeer herds. They followed the herds from one place during the winter months to another place in the summer. They fished during the summer months and sold their crafts and worked other jobs when they lived in Myran in the winter. Similar to what happened to the American Indians in the U.S., the Sámi suffered under colonial dispossession. They upheld a strong connection to the land, water and people.
The theme that permeated throughout the book was discrimination. Rávdná worked diligently to build a house made of wood. Part of the reason for doing so was to provide a warmer home for her sister who appeared to be suffering from the cold. Ingá’s Aunt Anne was sick and slept a lot. Rávdná tried to gain permission to build a home that would be warmer for her sister, made of wood, but the county would not let her. Her and her family and others from her village were considered Lapp, a nomadic people who could not build permanent homes made of wood. Their homes were either tents or made from peat moss. Labba never reported in her book if the hydropower company flooded their summer village on purpose, but they did cause the flood and no one came to their aid to help them rebuild. Rávdná built her new home on higher ground with a wood floor and walls. When she got the notice from the county sheriff that her new home was a liability under the criminal code, she ignored the notice and burned the letter. Their temporary homes were not to have windows. Rávdná put in a third window in her home.
I liked how Labba introduced the people of the family’s village superstitions. One of the superstitions I have heard of before. Rávdná asked the press to come to her home to interview her about their poor living conditions. They did and took lots of pictures of her home and other homes in the village. Her neighbor was furious and told her she brought on bad luck and the pictures taken threatened to take away their souls. I was told by a native person in Canada that he believed the same thing about pictures being taken. He was afraid he would lose his soul if his picture was taken. Another superstition was introduced when Aunt Anne was near her death. She disappeared and died away from her peat hut and would not live in Rávdná’s home. If a person died in the home, the home would have to be torn down. Aunt Anne was a sweet woman who kept things as neat as possible, worked hard at fishing and cooked good meals for her family. Rávdná was beside herself when she could not find her. She was greatly missed and her family grieved for a long time after her death.
The movie that came to mind while reading this book was the 2015 “The Wave” movie, a Norwegian Film. What happened in the movie was a massive avalanche in one of Norway’s fjords caused countless tons of rocks and dirt to traverse into the water. The avalanche led to a 260-foot splash that swept the fjord like a tsunami, which could demolish the small town at its base. A Scientist by the name of Kristoffer Joner tried to warn people of the danger and tried to evacuate the people. “RisingTide: The Great Mississippi Flood” by John M. Barry was a book that came to mind. In 1927, the Mississippi River overflowed across an area equal to the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont combined. The water was thirty feet in depth stretching from Illinois to Missouri, south to the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately one million people had to evacuate out of a country with around 120 million people. The death toll was in the thousands. In January 2026, California was facing major flooding and experiencing similar disasters. Many people losing their homes.
This story relates to my life to a small degree. I lost my mother in 2019, and her home and property were sold. Bit by bit, the home I lived in as a child was demolished to prepare for a business to be built on the property. The book reminded me about the American Indians and the losses they suffered when their land was taken away from them. Also, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, my current place of resident is where the Soo Locks are located. The rapids where the locks are located was a major fishing location, it was filled with whitefish. The lives of many of the Ojibwe were changed forever when the locks took over the area of the rapids and their fishing area was greatly altered. The lives of Ingá and her family were changed drastically when dams were constructed at their summer location which caused major flooding and the surrounding area by the river was transformed. Turned to mud, flowers and trees died and the fish that was so plentiful were limited.
I recommend this book for its history about the Sámi people, because of its attention to detail regarding family dynamics, for its realistic view of the Swedish government’s shortcomings, and for its endearing poetry. It was amazing how the main characters and other villagers managed to ride on skis as they followed the reindeer to the west. Labba revealed a dangerous episode when Ingá fell in a large crevice with reindeer. She was unhurt. Ingá, like other teenagers, became frustrated with her mother when she would not accept the status quo and wanted her family to live in a better home. Her mother getting the attention of the press angered Ingá as well as the neighbor. History has proven time and time again that a country’s government has viewed specific individuals according to their skin color or beliefs as inferior. I like how Labba even described the cold air as having a smell. The air smelled cold like winter was approaching. Labba provided in a haunting and touching manner a view of a world transformed from unexpected devastation and how the strong and resilient survived.
Title: The Home of the Drowned
Author: Elin Anna Labba
