Summary of Five Fingers
“Five Fingers” tells the story of Laura, who was born in a Siberian Gulag camp, where her Latvian parents were deported under Stalin’s rule. At five years old, she is on her way back to her ‘home country,’ Latvia, with her family. Upon arrival, she realises that the Soviet-dominated country is quite different from the fairy tale her parents had described.
Reasons to read Five Fingers
Set in the late 1950s, the novel “Five Fingers” is based on Māra Zālīte’s own childhood experiences. Zālīte is one of the most celebrated Latvian writers of today. She has won several awards both in Latvia and internationally, including the Annual Latvian Literary Award (three times, including for “Five Fingers”), the international Herder Award, and the Latvian Order of the Three Stars.
Setting: Latvia & Russia
Book set in Latvia (Slampe Parish, Semigallia) and Russia (Krasnoyarsk, Siberia)
Original title: Pieci pirksti
Year of publication: 2013
Nr of pages: 246
