The storm that hits the tiny island of Vardo in 1617 is catastrophic to the fisherman and their families that live in this end-of-the-world region of Northern Norway. With all their menfolk drowned, it is up to the women left behind to create a new kind of life - a life, however, that is interrupted by whispers of a new commissioner on his way. With new laws that make going to church less a choice than an expectation and with a collective trauma that affects all the women of Vardo in different ways, infighting and fear create the perfect conditions for a spark to start a blaze.
There was so much in this book that kept me interested - the time period, the hard scrabble life these women had to not just endure but find ways to eke pleasure out of, the relationships between neighbors that can be everything you need or your worst torment, depending so much on the mentality of your neighbors. It’s amazing what you can believe when fear has taken over your mind. It’s a deeply sad story with very solid historical roots that reminds me, again, of the horrible things human beings are capable of doing to each other. It also, though, reminds me of how beautiful this world is, how it has what we need to survive, how even just finding one person to love can be, truly, the most important thing.
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