
In a quiet Finnish countryside on the brink of a world still at peace, master‑student Alpre Harju balances his scholarly love of aesthetics with a restless need for real experience. He spends his days surrounded by books and the endless Finnish woods, dreaming of a national art that captures both beauty and purpose. When his young niece Katr, a spirited girl with a hidden talent for performance, disappears into the forest, Alpre’s theoretical musings are forced into urgent action.
Venturing through moss‑covered paths and misty lake shores, Alpre encounters the modest village of Juonala, where a young university graduate named Tuomas Salmelan holds a rifle and a guarded demeanor. Their brief meeting hints at the tangled social currents of a community caught between tradition and the stirrings of modernity. Listeners are drawn into a lyrical portrait of nature, culture, and the quiet desperation of a man seeking both his niece and a deeper sense of purpose.
Language
fi
Duration
~5 hours (289K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2015-03-09
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1867–1942
A Finnish writer, teacher, and librarian, she wrote novels, short stories, and plays with a feel for everyday life. Her work helped bring late 19th- and early 20th-century Finnish literature to a broad audience.
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