It is 1916. Russia and Finland are playing their age-old game of “cat and mouse”—each Finnish village has its own rules and social mores—life is harsh and uncompromising—and most of the inhabitants will hang onto their birthright until the bitter end unless their choice is taken away. This is the harsh reality of Kaarlo Heitala’s world but he, through fate, is forced to leave his beloved country and begin a new life in America during one of the bloodiest times in world history. Finlander becomes an odyssey of man’s place in life’s continuum and how one man can touch the lives of many and prove that each individual truly does have a story—a story of inescapable courage and determination.
Excerpt
“Kaarlo wrote down his thoughts, trying to remember the past. Methodically, he put down what he knew:
It was the type of place, a harsh land, where only those born to its soil could appreciate the real meaning of living. She was invaded and conquered, but her people were never touched by the whims of the rulers. They reluctantly surrendered, yet they never submitted. Their ways were the ways of the land, which protected them from outsiders. Suomi—Finland—keeps her secrets well.
Kaarlo smiled at the last line, crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the fire. He rested his eyes on the amber flames and silently remembered…”
Third Book in Five Book Series - Southern Swallow - a tale of 12th Century China. Li K'ai-men becomes entangled in an intrigue that becomes his undoing.
Dublin 1941. A brutal murder. Mistaken identity. And barman Eamon Foley is running for his life.
Nine months later Foley is in a crowded pub, and his brother-in-law is shot dead.
