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3.5 stars

"Late autumn this year had violence in her hair, angry crimson, orange, and yellow. The trees wrestled to free themselves of their cloaks, crumpled up their old leaves and threw them straight out into the strong wind rather than just let them fall to the ground. Dry leaves ran across the yard with the crackle of fire."

Set in 1717, Swedish Lapland, Maija, her husband Paavo and her daughters Frederika and Dorotea have left their native Finland, leaving their friends and families behind, as well as their past. Their new home is at the base of Blackåsen Mountain adding a dark, mystical history to an already strange, new land.

Goat tending leads Fredericka to find a mutilated body, a neighbor. The locals seem willing to dismiss this as a wolf attack. Maija, who inspected the body at his widow’s request, believes he died at the hands of a man. Only Maija seem to be concerned about the dead man’s widow or their children and what will become of them. Frederika, meanwhile, is drawn to the mountain, finding her own answers to other questions.

Expecting the arrival of the “wolf winter,� soon, Paavo leaves Maija and their daughters Frederika and Dorotea to find work in a less remote location, and Maija struggles to survive along with her daughters. As the snow gets deeper and deeper, the settlers� stories begin to be exposed. The need to share what few resources they have force them to join together, but Maija is still not sure whom she can trust.