Ulf Henriksson's novel is based on his grandfather Erkki Antti's thousands of collected documents from the late 19th century.
There are minutes, letter correspondence, diaries, accounts and so on.
- It is strange, overwhelming but of course fun.
You have spent more time with the dead than with the living, that is actually the case.
When you sit for a few hours and write, it feels like grandfather is sitting behind your back and sort of whispers that this is how it was, says Ulf Henriksson.
Grandfather was a Lapland school teacher
Erkki Antti was a Lapland folk school teacher, as it was called at the time, in Jukkasjärvi and taught both the Finnish-speaking and Sami-speaking children.
He was fluent in three languages, Finnish, Sami and Swedish and acted as a contact person and interpreter for the gentlemen from the south who started the mine and built the railway.
"Disliked everything that had to do with alcohol"
However, Erkki had a hard time with the way of life that the gentlemen led.
Something that Ulf Henriksson has calculated through all the letters and diaries he has read.
Erkki Antti was a devout believer in the laestadian and a preacher and opposed alcohol.
- He hated everything that had to do with alcohol.
He followed the doctrine of Laestadi and Laestadius advocated sobriety, so I think he was quite thoughtful about it, but at the same time he probably also saw the possibilities for a new future for the people who lived up here.
It must have been a bit ambiguous feelings, says Ulf Henriksson.
Is already working on a sequel
He has material so that it is enough for more books and Ulf Henriksson has started sketching a continuation of the first book and hopes that it will go faster this time.
- It has been very exciting, my God, it is a new world you have discovered, says the author Ulf Henriksson.