Punished

以作品《Stolen》改編Netflix電影，瑞典國際暢銷書作家Ann-Helén Laestadius新作《Punished》講述一個令人心碎的故事，靈感來自真實事件。

五個原住民兒童在1950年代被迫就讀瑞典政府經營的寄宿學校，這段經歷造成的情感創傷，三十年後依然緊緊跟隨著他們。

1950年代，北極圈附近，七歲的Jon-Ante、Else-Maj、Nilsa、Marge和Anne-Risten被帶離了家人。作為薩米族(Sami)駱駝牧民的孩子，瑞典政府要求他們必須進入一所「遊牧學校」，在那所學校他們被禁止講自己的母語。由於孩子們只能偶爾回家，父母對他們所遭受的虐待知之甚少，而這些虐待主要來自學校的女舍監莉塔(Rita)。那些敢於發聲的孩子則被迫保持沉默。

三十年後，五個孩子選擇了不同的方式來應對過去。Else-Maj堅守著自己的薩米族身份，但轉向宗教尋求慰藉；而Anne-Risten現在用Anne這個名字隱瞞自己的血統，以避免讓朋友知道；Nilsa像父親一樣放牧駱駝，但內心充滿怒火；Jon-Ante則在與學校的創傷記憶作鬥爭；還有Marge，正準備收養來自哥倫比亞的女兒，但她不禁懷疑，收養這個孩子是否正確。

然而，女舍監莉塔突然出現。如今已是老邁、虛弱的女人，聲稱自己得到了上帝的庇佑，並假裝什麼也沒發生過。但這五位學生既沒有忘記、也沒有原諒她。隨著敘事在他們各自的視角之間切換，這部小說對讀者提出了這樣一個問題：如果你有機會懲罰曾經傷害你的那個人，你會嗎？

本書取材自作者的家族故事，風格強烈，講述了失落、記憶、文化抹消和社區的故事，控訴一個國家對待其原住民的背叛，充滿正義的憤怒。

From the internationally bestselling author of the “extraordinary” (Fredrik Backman) novel Stolen comes a harrowing story—inspired by true events—of five Indigenous children forced to attend a government-run boarding school in 1950s Sweden, revealing the emotional scars they carry thirty years later.

In the 1950s near the Arctic Circle, seven-year-olds Jon-Ante, Else-Maj, Nilsa, Marge, and Anne-Risten are taken from their families. As children of Sámi reindeer herders, the Swedish state has mandated they attend a “nomad school” where they are forbidden to speak their native language. As the children visit home only sporadically, their parents know little about the abuse they face, much of it at the hands of the housemother, Rita. Those who dare to speak up are silenced.

Thirty years later, the five children have chosen different paths to cope with the past. Else-Maj holds strong in her Sámi identity but has turned to religion for comfort, while Anne-Risten now goes by Anne to hide her heritage from friends. Nilsa herds reindeer like his father but harbors a lot of anger, and Jon-Ante struggles with traumatic memories from the school. Then there’s Marge, who is about to adopt a daughter from Colombia, but can’t help questioning if it’s right to take a child from her homeland.

Then suddenly, housemother Rita reappears. Now an old, frail woman claiming to have God on her side, she acts like nothing ever happened. But the five former students have neither forgotten nor forgiven her. As the narrative shifts between each of their perspectives, the novel asks: If you had the chance to punish the person who hurt you as a child, would you?

Based on the author’s family story, Punished is a searing novel about loss, memory, cultural erasure, and community that vibrates with righteous rage over one nation’s greatest betrayals of its native people.