A mesmerising story of love, injustice, grief and joy

How do I begin to share about a book such as this?

The Eye of the Reindeer by Eva Weaver is so rich in culture that it draws you into its pages with such depth and vibrancy that you can feel the life and warmth and history pulsating, yet the setting is so bleak and cold and isolated. Such contrasts.

Set in the wilds of Scandinavia, the beginning is a tragedy; an injustice of the highest order. This sets the tone for the resilience, tenacity and sheer courage of the principle characters.

Ritva is a vibrant, passionate 16-year-old when the story begins. The eldest daughter of the local pastor whose dreams are filled with images of wolves and reindeer and a mystical drum. Her life, and that of her sister, is ripped apart when her mother is forcibly removed and sent away for supposed dreams and visions which are not in line with the Christian faith of the day. It is not until much later in the story that the truth unfolds.

Soon after, Ritva endures the ultimate betrayal of trust, and shortly after she too is taken against her will and incarcerated in a mental asylum on an island in the archipelago, Seili. A harsh, isolated environment reserved for what was deemed the most hopeless of cases and to which you brought the wood for your own coffin across with you on the boat.

Here was a season of absolute cruelty but within this, a friendship is made with a kindred spirit, Martta. Together they plan to escape, something that had never been accomplished before. Attempts yes, but never success. The archipelago becomes their hiding place as their pursuers relentlessly search them out.

The journey to the land of the midnight sun is long; an odyssey over frozen sea and land as they battle fatigue, terror and bitter cold. But Martta knows these waters, these lands, as she herself is a Sami, a woman of the North, and becomes the protector and provider for them both.

Martta and Ritva both feel a pull to the North, both dream of the sacred drums, the reindeer, the wolf. Martta was born of this land. Not so Ritva, so why does she dream, and why does she have visions of a people and way of life she has never experienced?

As they travel, they prosper in their spirit and friendship. All too soon a rift occurs and the girls go their separate ways. And so we begin to follow Ritva’s journey to find the people of the North, those whom she hopes will take her in and allow her to join their siida.

Over the next 25 years, we follow Ritva’s journey of self-discovery, her embracing and immersing in the Sami life, learning new skills and forging a life for herself. There are regrets, grief and a revisiting of the past, in order to move on to the future, but always the emptiness of a friendship lost.

Out of tragedy and the aftermath of war, Martta reappears and so a new journey begins. The sacred drum calls them, the songs of the people burst from within; a connection with the old ways, the old stories, a rebirthing of their heritage.

This novel reminds me of a tapestry, rich vibrant storylines are interwoven with love and care, telling a story of love, injustice, grief and joy. Tales of cultural significance rich in meaning and spiritual connection. Family threads with sacred stories and reindeer; beautiful.

The fabric of this tapestry highlights in such poetic words the plight of our indigenous people the world over who have suffered and continue to suffer at the hand of ignorance and fear. So much heritage, culture, language lost. As we read we help with the remembering so all is not lost forever.

The Eye of the Reindeer by Eva Weaver is available now from Dymocks. Click here to learn more.