That’s what the author Susanna Alakoski writes in the afterword to the novel “Bomullsengelen”. Because with this book, she lifts her own working-class background and shows what challenges her ancestors have had. The grandmother, who toiled for decades as a factory worker in the Finnish textile industry, is the model for the protagonist Hilda. This is Hilda’s story: Hilda was born in 1905, on the large farm Sorola in Österbotten county. The father has already left for America before the daughter is born, the mother suffers from depression and cannot look after the child. The old midwife Sanna-täti comes in mother’s place. She tells stories from the old days, teaches Hilda the letters and initiates her in the art of feeding the horses and tying birch ice. She also shows her what true love is. But the love is complicated: Hilda, the confirmant, falls in love with the priest, becomes pregnant and is driven to the door when the family discovers it. For a couple of years she works as a maid for board and lodging on a farm in the neighboring village. Together with the other servant girl, she goes to the nearest big city, Vasa, to try her luck in the Cotton Factory. There they only have an eleven-hour working day and can earn their own money! Workers’ story The story of Hilda who becomes a factory worker is also a story about the rise of modern Finland. Industry gives the poor work, but at the same time devours them with skin and hair. The working conditions are bad, the pay is low, the working day is long. It’s a hard life. We follow Hilda 50 years into the future, to the middle of the last century. By then she has been a widow for many years, has become a grandmother, has had tuberculosis, but is still working at the factory. She has experienced two world wars, the Civil War and the Winter War. Women’s history Susanna Alakoski has no small ambition. This work will be four volumes and take the story up to our own time. This first volume alone is 500 pages, but it doesn’t feel too long. Creative use of literary devices brings the text to life: the chronological narrative is broken up by diary notes, postcards, historical jumps, dreams – and not least workers’ songs: The small glimpses into Aurora’s singing choir – the only gathering the female workers at the Bomullsfabrikken are allowed to have , since unions were banned – are gorgeous. Not least, it is touching when the well-grown ladies after the war finally get the occasional day off and expectantly go on a journey of discovery in the Vasa region and all the way to Helsinki. No victim history Alakoski does not succumb to the temptation to demonize the directors or glorify the workers. She shows the conditions at the factory, and they speak for themselves. The concrete floor causes sore knees and backs, the cotton thread leads to sore hands, and the dust settles in the eyes, nose and mouth and over time causes wheezing. Little by little, the unionized workers push for better conditions. Can Hilda’s daughter Greta – named after Greta Garbo from the only time Hilda managed to go to the cinema – see a brighter future ahead? ENGAGED: Finnish-Swedish Susanna Alakoski has won the August prize for her writing, which largely deals with the working class. Here she speaks during a demonstration against Russia in Stockholm February 2023. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT Writing forward towards our own time Like Roy Jacobsen in the series about the Barrøy people and Kerstin Ekman in the unique trilogy “Wolfskin”, Alakoski portrays with precision knowledge of the work of the hands, whether it is about repairing a scythe before the skuronna, or tying the threads during the spinning of the cotton. It first comes across the ocean from America. After World War II, Pakistan, Turkey, Congo and Russia take over as the most important suppliers. “The Cotton Angel” is a novel that provides knowledge on a micro level as well as on an overall social and economic level. For those who want, the thread spins on to our own times: What are the conditions of those who work in the textile factories today? They are, as we know, on the other side of the globe, so prices can be kept as low as possible. Many children’s hands are still busy at work. The depiction of Finland’s close and motley history also evokes associations with a Russia that, outrageously enough, also in 2023, is expanding westward with military power. Susanna Alakoski has made a strong and important contribution to our common history with this first volume of the “Bomullskvartette”. I look forward to the continuation. news reviews Photo: Samlaget Title: “Bomullsengelen” Author: Susanna Alakoski Translator: Runa Kvalsund Genre: Novel Publisher: Samlaget Pages: 507 Published: 9 February 2023
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“The Cotton Angel” by Susanna Alakoski – Reviews and recommendations
