Published in 1997, ‘Lakeuden kutsu’ is a novel by Finnish writer Antti Tuuri that won the ‘Finlandia Prize‘ in 1997. Antti Elias Tuuri (born 1 October 1944, Kauhava, Southern Ostrobothnia) is a Finnish writer, known for his works dealing with Southern Ostrobothnia. The Äitini-suku-series tells the stories of the Finns who emigrated to the United States. He received the J. H. Erkko Award in 1971 for ‘Asioiden suhteet ja Lauantaina illalla’, the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1985 for ‘Pohjanmaa‘, and the Finlandia Prize in 1997 for his novel ‘Lakeuden kutsu’. Tuuri has also translated some Icelandic sagas. Many of his novels have been made into films including ‘Rukajärven tie’ also known as ‘Ambush’ in English, about the Continuation War 1941–44 in Karelia, Russia and Talvisota, the Winter War 1939–1940. His novel ‘Ikitie’ was made into the movie ‘The Eternal Road’. The final novel of the masterful ‘Pohjanmaa’ series, in ‘Lakeuden kutsu’ Erkki Hakala, who escaped from the tax collector in Florida, returns to his father’s land, Finland. The events of the novel focus on one summer day, which is July 19, 1996: on that day, Erkki Hakala buys a metal factory, meets his relatives, transports the men of the family around the province on a fast American train and eats in Euro-style restaurants, visits the bank a couple of times, the latter time in the dark of the night, and has a bad fight with the factory’s former owners. A lot has changed in Finland. Erkki Hakala gets to know the province’s perception of the European Union up close. It also seems increasingly clear to him that, alongside the financial criminals of recent years, the sins of Florida’s visitors were small, forgivable. Erki’s common-law wife Kaisu angrily left Florida to give birth to a child in Ostrobothnia, and now Kaisu has another child, a boy, with a Lapland native.
