
audiobook
A late‑summer day in 1899 finds a weary traveler waiting on a newly laid railway line in rural Finland. The sun beats down on a bustling platform where workers, their families, and curious onlookers gather to witness the iron horse’s first journeys. The heat hangs heavy, and a sudden storm rolls in, turning the scene into a blur of wind, rain, and the clatter of steam.
Amid the crowd, a young woman in a drenched dress steps forward, her eyes wide and haunted. She repeatedly pleads for a way home, her voice trembling as she answers the narrator’s questions about her origins and her husband’s whereabouts. Her hesitant replies hint at hidden worries and a past tied to the railway’s construction, leaving the observer—and the listener—wondering what secrets lie beneath her frightened demeanor. The encounter sets the tone for a tale of ordinary lives intersecting with the restless pulse of progress.
Language
fi
Duration
~2 hours (171K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2005-02-07
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1827–1913
A self-taught Finnish writer from a farming background, he became known for vivid stories drawn from rural life in 19th-century Ostrobothnia. His work helped bring ordinary people and everyday speech into Finnish literature.
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