The Knife in the Fire is a riveting historical novel about work and love, strong communities, and carefree erotica, the individual and the community.

The year is 1859. Brita Caisa Seipajærvi straps on her skis and takes the long road from Finland to Norway with her two children. Brit Caisa has been disciplined by the church for having an affair with a married man. She can heal animals and humans. The destination for their journey is Bugøynes, where the sea is said to be full of cod.

The Knife in the Fire is the first title in the Ruijan rannalla/Songs from the Arctic Ocean series, about Finnish Kvens and the landscape they live in. Brita Caisa was the great-great-great-great-grandmother of author Ingeborg Arvola. Arvola’s writing evokes the smell of blood after slaughtering reindeer, the taste of cloudberries, the feeling of coldness from the snow and the heat from the fire.