None of the five Sámi in Ann-Helén Laestadius’s heartbreaking novel, Punished, want to go to the nomad school in Kiruna. Else-Maj, Marge, Anne-Risten, Jon-Ante, and Nilsa have heard stories about how awful it is there. They’re not allowed to speak their language; they must speak Swedish, even if they don’t know it. They can only go home during breaks. Worst of all is Rita Olsson, the housemother, who loathes the Sámi. In chapters set in the early 1950s and the early to mid-1980s, Laestadius shows us how the abuse these children suffer under Olsson’s “care” and its longterm effects. Rachel Willson-Broyles beautifully translated this moving, harrowing novel...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.