Everything in the world has a synty, a birth-song that holds the roots of our true essence. Whoever knows the synty of a thing or creature has the power to control it.
I have never revealed mine to anyone. Not until now.
Follow the roots of my synty into the stone-hill of the North, follow them beyond nine locks and shackles, into the heart of the earth itself. Learn their precise shape, learn to sense their shifts and to hear their whispers. Get as comfortable as you can, close your eyes if it feels too hard to keep them open. That I will permit.
But you must listen to my birth-song before you go.
Sometimes a woman has no choice but to transform herself into an enormous bird of prey.
Louhi’s spellbinding origin story takes us into a mythical past, a world of magic and shapeshifting. Lauha is living her childhood in Pohjola, where strong women rule the society and each one of them has her own spell-shape or animal form. The hardships of defending her home and keeping her family safe turn Lauha into Louhi, a woman that many fear.
Snowsinger (Lumenlaulaja) is out in Finnish in August 2025. It is a feminist retelling of the Finnish national epic The Kalevala from the point of view of the main antagonist Louhi, a powerful witch who is capable of controlling the weather and transforming into a giant eagle.
Other Books
The Moonday Letters
The Weaver / The City of Woven Streets
