AshehougAgency

A Letter to Heaven

Pajara is a young Indian girl in a nameless country, quite close to our time. Pajara is the chief's daughter, but her father is tricked into drinking by the white man, and abandons his family. Together with the other children in the tribe, Pajara is kidnapped and sent to missionary school. She and the other children are subject to inhuman humiliation and cruel exploitation, all in the name of Christianity. Finally, she is put to work on one of the larger plantations, where she meets her mother again and by way of mysterious chance gets hold of a genuine diamond. This diamond becomes Pajara's secret guiding star, and she hides it in her own body, as it promises an escape from poverty and exploitation. Brev til himmelen is an adventure, and at the same time a merciless and realistic story about the poorest in our world: about perseverance and courage, and the indomitable belief that happiness is within reach, even in the poorest parts of the world.

Praise for A Letter to Heaven:

"A Letter To Heaven is a furious reckoning of the injustices inflicted on the American Indians – and that continue to take place to this day, in the name of God and Corporate finance... This is a tough novel, in parts perhaps one of toughest I ever read... this is a novel I sense Løkkeberg has put her soul into. All I can say is: read the novel, for God’s sake!"
(Fedrelandsvennen)

"A realistic fable with an extremely important and serious theme... Løkkeberg gives a brave and eventful account of one of the darkest chapters of history. The story is believable, but at the same time fantastical and violent... She wants to tell something, to move and to touch us... Løkkeberg is a fine story teller in the way she imparts little symbols, pictures and relationships"
(Adresseavisen)

"At its best this novel finds literary expression for the desperate struggle for survival when one has nothing"
(VG)

"An account of life in the slums, children’s fight to survive, the brutality and fear found in these people are also communicated convincingly. At her best Løkkeberg also writes with a daring rawness"
(Dagsavisen)

First published: 2004, Forlaget Oktober
Vibeke Løkkeberg: Biography and bibliography

Languages: Norwegian