The Nobel committee said in 1939 that Sillanpää won expressly for this book. It was....it was an uninspiring book. I don't see how I'm supposed to harbor any compassion for the main character, a girl named Silja who starts out in her pre-teen years as semi-well off but then her father dies, the farm is lost, and she leads a life of being a farm maid at one farm then another. Then she dies.It sounds harsh to describe a plot so flatly but there is no connection to the main character, no sympathy or empathy, so everything feels dull and listless.

The Maid Silja

The history of the last offshoot of an old family tree, a girl called Silja, who struggles to survive in the agrarian Finland of the first half of the 20th century.

Silja, the last of her family, struggles to survive in early 20th century rural Finland.

Books like The Maid Silja: The History of the Last Offshoot of an Old Family Tree

The Maid Silja: The History of the Last Offshoot of an Old Family Tree

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