Fardom

Lyhytsiipiset

The first spring of the sixties marks the end of innocence for an entire nation: three girls on a camping trip by Lake Fardom are murdered in their sleep. Everyone seems to agree that brutality on this scale could not have happened in the Finland of a few years earlier—so whatever happened to that peaceful and picturesque place?

Marleena, the only survivor, has lost her sister, two friends, and all recollection of the events. She bears a lifelong guilt for outliving whatever happened that night, and the loss crushes her parents as well. Forty years later, Marleena notices the obituary of her former biology teacher, beetle collector Richard Streng, in the morning paper. She travels back to that tragic night, to her first love, and to a summer with wings as short as those of a beetle.

Based on one of the most baffling crimes in the history of Finland, Fardom is a gripping story of love, lies, innocence, the unpredictable power of mass media, and a murder that reaches mythical proportions. Snellman takes crisp and vibrant snapshots of society then and now.

Previously published in

Norwegian (Pax)
Swedish (Norstedt)