Apparently every Finn, even those who have never picked up the book knows the opening sentence "In the beginning there were the swamp, the hoe - and Jussi". Jussi is the tenant farmer of the parsonage and patriarch of the Koskelas. He and his wife Alma clear a portion of the swamp to establish their croft. As tensions mount between the land owners and the crofters, socialism comes to the masses through Halme the tailor who successfully organizes a worker's association in the village to fight for the rights of the evicted. Historical leaders of Finland's socialist movement like Hellberg and Salin make guest appearances in the novel.
While the masses are trying to get their head around Socialism the upper classes including the clergy are focused on the language issue and Finland's relationship with Russia. Although Finland at that time was an autonomous grand duchy under the Russian empire, Swedish still held its stature as the language of the administration, and of the elites. Finnish spoken by the majority of the population was predominantly the language of the peasants although with the birth of nationalism, Finnish gained in stature.
All of the above history is the background for one of the most well written story i've read in a long time. The book triumphs because of its portrayal of the residents of a small rural village of Pentti's Corners - how the microcosm of their day to day life reflects the macroscopic events happening far beyond their boundaries. It is fundamentally a novel of hard working people surviving through hard times with a hope for a better future especially for their kids. Rural Finland at the turn of the 19th century is captured so well - the power of the Barons and the Clergy, the plight of the tenants, the clash of the young and the old, the sometimes trivial jealousies and contests, even the awkward adolescent escapades of the young ones, the struggle of women, the clash of the classes(Suometar reading elite Finns and the readers of The Worker), and the hierarchy even among the crofters are narrated with so much empathy and some well-timed humor.
I am also amazed by how much this one novel educated me on Finnish history about which I knew next to nothing! Change of this magnitude (language issue, land ownership, electoral and parliamentary reform, women's suffrage) comes slowly but surely and Pentti Corner instead of being a passive recipient of change handed down from the top, takes an active part in bringing about that change.
Despite the grim existence of the tenant farmers, the novel is an optimistic one. Akseli, Jussi's oldest son, emerges as the hero towards the end and would be the central character for the sequels. Under the North Star ends with Akseli's wedding to Elina and the couple ready to take on the world.
And yes, while all this appears to be a tale of "And they lived happily ever after", I said the book is optimistic, didn't say it was a Fairy tale. Linna instead chose to close with "Finland's summer is beautiful. But so very short", which makes you want to pick up the sequel which I think portrays the civil war. I dread to think of what would happen to Akseli's family, but for now I am happy to bask in the summer however short and move onto France! Some day I will come back to discover the (mis)fortunes of the Koskela household.
