Backwoods Fable (Innbundet)

Author:

Sigbjørn Skåden

Norwegian title: Planterhaug
Author:
Binding: Innbundet
Year: 2025
Pages: 192
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
ISBN/EAN: 9788202855130
Overview Planterhaug

When the old drunkard Nilsen dies in the Norwegianized sami village Planterhaug, once known as Láŋtdievvá, no one suspects anything criminal. Yet, the following autumn Inspector Huuva from the Oslo Criminal Police arrives in the village to investigate the death.

Huuva is determined to uncover the truth about the village and find out about his father's fractured family history. Through his investigation, Huuva discovers that something Evil is haunting in the village, and the case propels him deep into the soul of Planterhaug. But is he truly uncovering new truths, or is he merely treading water in a place where secrets have long been silenced?

Backwoods Fable is a novel about identity, about what it means to be Sami, and about the search to find home – whatever that may be. It is both a deeply serious and deeply humorous novel about nature, culture and belonging.

«Skåden is a poet, it shows. The novel is full of fine, delicate and atmospheric descriptions. ... a creepy, subtle and remarkable novel with many layers and connections, which perhaps only reveal themselves to the reader after the book is closed.»
STAVANGER AFTENBLAD, five/six stars

Blood, betrayal and chess in Sápmi
«Backwoods Fable mixes dark Nordic crime and Sami folklore into a meaty and original story with a lot of mystery and even more guts.»
DAGSAVISEN

Twin Peaks, Troms
«The burlesque and the sorrowful come together into something unlike anything else I've read.»
KLASSEKAMPEN

«Written with force and drive and humour.»
DAG OG TID

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More books by Sigbjørn Skåden:

Reviews Planterhaug

Samisk mordmysterium 25.02.2025

«Skåden er poet, det merkes. Romanen er full av fine, sansevare og stemningsmettede skildringer.»

«... en uhyggelig, underfundig og merkverdig roman med mange lag og sammenhenger, som kanskje først åpenbarer seg for leseren
når boken lukkes.»

 
Sigmund Jensen, Stavanger Aftenblad

I blindsona 14.03.2025

«Det heile er skrive med trøkk og driv og humor... »

«Romanen kan lesast som ein antikrim med ein antihelt.»

«Sigbjørn Skåden er ein markant forfattar som også skriv på samisk.»

Oddmund Hagen, Dag og Tid

Blod, svik og sjakk i Sápmi 06.02.2025

«Planterhaug blander mørk nordisk krim og samisk folklore i en kjøttfull og original fortelling med mye mystikk og enda mer innmat. Artig!»

«Sigbjørn Skåden har skrevet en frisk og annerledes roman, med stålkontroll på alle sine språklige krumspring.»

Gerd Elin Stava Sandve, Dagsavisen

Twin Peaks, Troms 18.01.2025

«... en leseropplevelse av de sjeldne.»

«I all sin kompleksitet er dette nemlig også en særs morsom roman.»

«Det burleske og det sorgtunge kommer sammen i noe som ikke ligner noe annet jeg har lest»

Carline Tromp, Klassekampen

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Author Sigbjørn Skåden

Sigbjørn Skåden (b. 1976) is a Sámi author who lives in Tromsø. He made his debut in 2004 in the Sámi language with Skuovvadeddjiid gonagas, for which he was nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize. Watch Over Those Who Sleep was his first novel in Norwegian, published in 2014. This received rave reviews and The Havmann Prize. He has published both poetry and novels.

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