North is the Night is an adult action/adventure fantasy inspired by Finnish mythology. Set in medieval Finland, it follows the journeys of two best friends, Siiri and Aina. I’m not giving too much away when I reveal the inciting incident: a death goddess appears in their village, hunts them down, and snatches Aina, dragging her to Tuonela, the Finnish underworld. This single action launches an epic story of love, survival, and magic, as Siiri and Aina fight to find their way back to each other.
In many ways, researching and writing North is the Night felt like a homecoming. I’m an American by birth, but I have Finnish ancestry going up both sides of my family tree. My paternal grandmother grew up speaking Finnish in the home in rural Minnesota. She always encouraged me to learn more about our heritage. She supported Finnish artisans, filling her house with trinkets—carved reindeer horn and etched glass. She made Finnish recipes when I visited, like braided, cardamom spiced pulla bread. She even gave me my first copy of the Kalevala and my first Finnish-to-English dictionary.
Thanks to my grandmother, North is so much more than a mythology retelling. It’s my love letter to Finland, a celebration of the food and culture, the nature and people. And it’s a love letter to my grandmother, who first made Finland feel magical for me.
As I researched Finnish mythology for North, what struck me is how familiar it all felt. World mythologies are more alike than they are different. Even as elements of each story may change, the message stays the same. Finnish mythology is as vast and layered as the Greek, Norse, or Egyptian pantheons, with gods for life and death, war and love. There are forest spirits, enchanted animals, meddling witches, and a range of interesting magic systems. It will feel different for readers at first. But if you look behind the long names full of umlauts, you’ll see that the story beating at the heart of North has a familiar cadence.
In writing North, I was most inspired by the runes in the Kalevala associated with Tuonela, the Finnish underworld. I’ve always been drawn to that aspect of world mythologies. What happens after we die? Where do we go? Can you ever return? I was also greatly inspired by the character of Väinämöinen (See? Umlauts. Just sound it out, you’re doing great). As the “hero” of the Kalevala, I always saw him as quite a tragic figure. With North, I wanted to step inside his mind, imagining what might have happened to make him the way that he is.
I certainly take liberties in North, gender-bending characters, and making up a few new magic rules. I think you have to. The demands of a modern audience mean that some things just won’t translate now. But I was careful to preserve as much as possible to make the world of North feel as ancient and inhabited as the runes that inspired it.
North is the Night is most definitely a fantasy, but it’s one rooted in history too. My modern audience should take note of its important (and timely) themes. Siiri spends much of the book contending with the unwelcome encroachment of the Christian Church into Finland. As an American currently living in a Southern state, I know all too well what that feels like. Florida is actively banning queer books left and right. They’re banning books that discuss the realities of racism, books that tell the history of who we are as a nation, a nation founded on the cultural and literal genocide of millions of people.
Yes, North is the Night is a fantasy, but it’s one we’ve all lived in before. We are living it again right now. My hope is that, as readers fall in love with Siiri and Aina and their world, they may come to understand how much we’ve already lost. Our stories, our songs, we’re letting them fade away. We’re letting them be taken away. In this author’s opinion, Finnish mythology deserves to be preserved. If even one person reads North and feels inspired to pick up the Kalevala, I’ll feel like I did my job.
North is the Night really does have something for everyone—action and adventure, swoony romance, rich worldbuilding, and a timely message about preserving that which came before, that which roots us to place and past. If this sounds like a story that might interest you, then put on some woolly socks, curl up with a cup of something warm, and come get lost with me in the wintry forests of Finland.
(c) Emily Rath
About North is the Night by Emily Rath:
With the dark, mythical magic of the Winternight trilogy, and the slow-burn romance of Spinning Silver, NORTH IS THE NIGHT is a feminist fantasy adventure that shows the power of female friendship and how love — both romantic and familial — can conquer even death itself.
In the harsh interior of the Finnish wilderness, best friends Aina and Siiri are inseparable despite their opposite natures: Aina is gentle and cautious while Siiri is headstrong and brave. But their friendship is put to the test when Aina is kidnapped by a death goddess and taken to the mythical underworld Tuonela.
Determined to save her friend, Siiri embarks on a dangerous journey north to seek out Väinämöinen, the only mystical shaman to travel to Tuonela and return alive. As the dark winter looms, Siiri uses all the strength she possesses to survive her journey, which is plagued by trappers, a band of roving wolves, and a cunning snow witch with her own quest for power. But finding Väinämöinen is only the beginning. Siiri must convince him to share his magic so she can sneak into Tuonela and save Aina.
In Tuonela, Aina is forced to play the sadistic games of Tuonetar, the cruel queen of the underworld, alongside other captured maidens. But Aina’s kindness allows her to make allies in the dark, harsh environment. She soon discovers that Tuoni, the god of death and king of Tuonela, is also a victim of Tuonetar’s spells that can only be broken when he remarries. To save him and the other girls, Aina offers herself as his bride.
As she spends more time in the underworld, Aina falls in love with Tuoni and must make a decision that will alter the course of her fate forever . . . not knowing her fearless friend is on the way and plotting a daring escape.
An extraordinary story of love, of courage, of friendship and of magic, NORTH IS THE NIGHT is the stand-alone first novel in an incredible duology.
North is the Night by Emily Rath is published by Arcadia (Quercus). Order your copy online here.
