Fjärilshjärta

Fjärilshjärta Flutters of the Heart

No one at school believes Vilda when she tells them she is Sámi. There are always a million questions: Do you speak Sámi? Do you own reindeer? Is your dad Sámi? But no matter what answers Vilda give, it’s like she’s not Sámi enough for them. She’s decided to change that. She’s going to start wearing gábdde, the traditional Sámi clothing, and ask her grandfather, the only one in her family who speaks Sámi, to teach her the language.

But when Vilda’s grandfather suddenly passes away, everything is turned upside down. Vilda has to navigate her Sámi heritage all on her own. At the funeral she meets Samuel. He is a few years older and has everything Vilda wants for herself: the gábdde, the reindeer, the language. Everything her grandfather never got the chance to give her. Perhaps Samuel can show her how to be Sámi instead?

Flutters of the Heart is a book about grief, love, and the right to define who you are.

Reviews

  • “Moa Backe Åstot has great compassion for her main character and she makes the overall story larger than its parts. Realistic with a romantic way of portraying nature. /…/ It is sore and tangly. Moa Backe Åstot raises matters of reconciliation and pride which makes Flutters of the Heart a bright and inspiring story.”

    Smålandsposten, Sweden

  • “A fine-tuned and realistic depiction of life set against a Sámi backdrop. [Moa Backe Åstot] portrays Vilda’s teenage life, grief, and search for identity with great recognition and commitment. The reader is at once captured by the story (…). A book suitable for discussions on relationships and identity.”

    BTJ, Sweden

Author
Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi Moa Backe Åstot
Published
2023
Genre
  • Children's
  • Young Adult
Pages
144
Reading material

Swedish edition

English translation

Rights sold

Sweden, Rabén & Sjögren

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