Back to a book review again. You may remember that I really liked the first story in Petteri Hannila’s Fargoer series (End of Innocence) and reviewed that a while ago. Well, I finally got around to writing about Fargoer 2: Autumn Flames after a series of rather busy weeks. As before, this is a short episode in the lives of the two central women, and their wider community. The stories are closely linked, but do not try to tell a continuous account of life in the northern forests.

This second story is set in and around the village community which Petteri has imagined for his stories, and I was very glad to be learning more about the people’s way of life. We are brought face to face with difficult issues for the community – death and succession of leadership, conflict with surrounding people, and the power of personal choices.

The review itself can be found at Amazon.co.uk or Goodreads so I won’t repeat it here. Once again, Petteri successfully drew me in to this particular culture, and once again I am looking forward to enjoying the rest of the series. The episodic format works for me as a way to introduce me to the values and practices of the people, and the interconnected stories of the two central women, alternating between cooperation and conflict, provide a central anchor point. Great stuff.

As for my own news – steady but slow progress on novel #2, Scenes from a Life, which I am still hoping will be available next year sometime. I had got rather bogged down in a particular chapter but have started making progress again.