Book Blurb:
Lovisa Öhn is a story of family, war, lost love, love found. In part one of this sweeping saga, four brothers leave their homes in Northern Sweden in 1757 to fight in northern Prussia. The youngest brother, Pehr, leaves behind his fiancé, Lovisa, vowing to return to her after the war. For five years, the war rages, testing their love for one another. And while Pehr endures horrific conditions in war-torn Pomerania, Lovisa forges a legacy as a respected mid-wife for both Swedish and Sámi women.
In the second part, Lovisa discovers two bodies in the forests of Northern Sweden. Evidence of cannibalism on the bodies prompting an intense manhunt to be launched. While the fugitive remains at large, a child disappears, renewing the search with intense desperation. But the young girl’s resilience and the searcher’s tenacity may not be enough to save her.
Originally published in 2020 in two books titled The Radermans Part 1, and Part 2, Lovisa Öhn combines the two into this novel. The novel underwent revisions based on reviews from the original versions.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/aLbiDZ
Editorial Review:
Linnea Karlsdotter lay on a pallet in the dark room, her body a shell of its former self. Her husband stood at the foot of her bed while their four daughters knelt on the floor, two on each side of her. A trail of blood from her latest coughing fit ran down her sunken cheek and disappeared under her wispy hair. Linnea’s husband, Öhn Larsson, and the couple’s youngest daughter, Lovisa, each held a threadbare handkerchief over their nose and mouth. The other three girls, Lovisa’s older sisters, used to do the same but they were tasked with caring for their mother’s toilet and cleaning and would often set their handkerchiefs down when both hands were needed. Often, they would grab the handkerchiefs they had set down to wipe away some mess. After a while, they just gave up covering their faces and went about the tasks of caring for their mother, holding their breath whenever she had a coughing fit.
The room had rough logs and a plank floor, darkened with age, and a sod roof where soil disturbed by mice would occasionally sift down. A small window, wavy glass and covered in grime, allowed minimal light into the room. What little furniture there was in the room was utilitarian; roughly made from local materials. There was an unpleasant smell to the room—sour excrement and mildew smelling urine that overpowered the earthy aroma of the sod roof. It was a dreary place to be sure, and Lovisa spent as little time as possible in the room, not that she didn’t love her mother; she just couldn’t bear to watch her slow deterioration. So, it was that Lovisa spent her days with her father doing the chores required for the upkeep of the farm while her sisters looked after their mother and the house.
Lovisa Öhn starts off in Hössjö, Sweden, the year of 1749 in a scene that has Linnea Karlsdotter on her death bed. It’s a somber moment, as she calls her child Lovisa in alone, asking her to care for her Poppa after she is gone. Immediately, we are drawn into the emotions of the moment, as Lova makes her mother one final promise before she passes.
From that introduction, we jump to 1756. Part one of the book covers the time period from there until 1764. I do like the way the book is separated into parts and defined by the years we are learning about. It helps to keep you in the moment and understand what is taking place and when.
Lovisa Öhn by Albert Sandberg takes us behind the scenes and into the homes of a family from Sweden, the Radermans. We learn about the family, their home, their customs, and the expectations that were placed on different members of the family, based on their roles. When the oldest brothers marry, for example, they were to be given space in the home for privacy with their wives.
We also learn about the children who are called to military service and certain laws that Sweden had at the time.
Jakob, 24, and Emanuel, 20, or Manni, as he has been called since childhood, were assigned to neighboring rotes, Jakob became Soldier Wennström at Kasamark, and Manni, Soldier Apelfeldt in Brattby. Upon entering military service, each recruit was assigned a new surname. This practice was necessary due to the Swedish patronymic naming system where the child’s surname would consist of his or her father’s first name, followed by son or dotter. So, all of Olof’s sons would have the surname Olofsson, and all his daughter’s surnames would be Olofsdotter. This did not work so well in the military as there would be many men with common names. Hence, the regiment’s commander would assign a new surname to recruits. The assigned surname may be based on where they came from, their physical attributes, or their trade. These were names such as Berg (mountain), Stark (strong), Svärd (sword), Björn (bear), Lång (tall), etc. Upon recruitment, Jakob and Manni had assumed the names of their respective rote farms.
I found this background into the history really interesting and I enjoy the way the author uses the main family of the story as a means to convey that information to us, the readers. Editing and formatting of this book are well done. There are not a lot of spelling or grammatical errors that pull you out of the story either.
Through the dialogue we also learn more about the different family members and how they interact with one another. There is a lot of background building, which tells us a lot about the history of the times and how an average family would have lived, but at times, it might make it difficult for some readers to move through the story.
Overall, the pacing is good, but again, some readers may find the background details to be too much to sludge through. There are some times where it feels more tell, rather than showing, but I didn’t feel it was too much to take me away from the story.
The character development are the main pros of this book, as they are what really carry the story arc forward. In addition to learning about the family and their daily ins and outs, the story takes us to the military as well.
As the company marched over a small rise, the regimental general muster camp came into view. The scene before them took Pehr’s breath away. Spread out before them were a hundred and twenty tents in six neat rows of twenty. Each row represented a company with seventeen tents for the soldiers and three for the officers. Soldiers were bustling about to shouted orders. Two wagons met in the narrow space between two rows of tents, both cursing at each other like only mule skinners can, neither willing to give ground. Old friends embraced, called greetings to one another, and laughed at old jokes.
“This is going to be great,” cried Pehr.
Although, his opinion would change in the coming days. In front of each tent was an elevated round stand with a pole running up the middle, topped with a cone of spruce boughs. The stands were used to hold the soldiers’ muskets. The eight muskets of the tent’s soldiers were placed around the stand with the barrel up and under the cone, the stocks on the stand’s base. The spruce boughs were quite effective at keeping the muskets dry. There were cooking pits dug at one end of the encampment, a shooting range on another end, an open field on one side for drills, and latrine trenches on the other side. There was a pleasant smell of wood smoke from the cooking fires in the air, along with a faint aroma of manure from the stables.
Specifically, it follows the Överstelieutnant company an we even see some shocking things that would have been considered normal at the time, such as a 12-year-old orphan boy being recruited into the war as a drummer.
By the end, we have a satisfying ending and a completed story of the people of the rote. You’ll definitely learn more about this time in history and what life was life for these families. There is also a glossary of definitions in the back that many people may find helpful. You’ll likely learn some new words from this as well.
*****
“People of the Rote” by Albert Sandberg receives four stars from The Historical Fiction Company
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