Frosten : Skildring från 1860-talets Västerbotten by Astrid Väring
"Frosten: Skildring från 1860-talets Västerbotten" by Astrid Väring is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story is set in a rural Västerbotten community during the 1860s and delves into the lives of its inhabitants as they struggle with poverty, harsh natural conditions, and social divisions. At its heart are the characters Lill-Jonas and his son Mats, whose resilience and spiritual faith are tested by repeated years of crop failure,
community strife, and unrelenting frost. The book likely explores themes of endurance, faith, and the tension between tradition and change in Sweden’s northern countryside. The opening of the novel immerses readers in late summer on Lill-Jonas's farm, painting the landscape and introducing the community's two longstanding, feuding clans divided by the ominous wintermyren—a marsh from which both literal and metaphorical frost emerges. Through evocative depiction of nature and communal memory, the narrative quickly becomes both intimate and epic. We see the family’s history of hardship unfold through Mats’s memories of famine, the relentless search for food, and their dependency on the calculating Stor-Grubben. Scenes of hunger, toil, and spiritual struggle are vividly portrayed, culminating in a night of despair as another frost claims the long-anticipated harvest, testing the faith and solidarity of the family and their village. The beginning establishes a powerful atmosphere of endurance amid adversity, illuminating both the beauty and severity of rural life in historical Västerbotten. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
