To Siberia - Tapa dura

A study of the relationship between brothers and sisters, with the narrator looking back to her childhood, when she was heavily influenced by her brother Jesper. As she looks back, she reflects on the harsh reality of her life and the direction it led her.

In Danish Jutland, where the sea freezes over and the Nazis have yet to invade, a young girl dreams of going on a great journey to Siberia, while her brother, Jesper, yearns for the warmer climes of Morocco. With a staunchly Christian mother, a father who is an unsuccessful carpenter, and a grandfather who hangs himself in a cowshed, the relationship between brother and sister flourishes. Jesper has an originality that stands out in the small community, and his sister follows as they wend their way around the town in moonlit and daytime endeavors. The bond between them creates a warmth that grows through the cold and the dark clouds that threaten to overtake their dreams. As the narrator looks back, she reflects on the harsh realities of her life and the directions in which they ted her.

It is out of small and negligible things that a life may be composed, and the beauty of Per Petterson's narrative lies in the resonances of a Ere outwardly barren but so sharply etched, so charged with meaning.