PositiveSwedish Book ReviewThe book is not a cheerful read, but this was not a cheerful life. Life in Swede Hollow is unremittingly grim ... The decades pass through the eyes of the different characters in turn. One quibble would be that their voices are not sufficiently differentiated. However, the passages that are examples of 19th- century journalism, showing how the Swedes were seen by the majority population of the time, are particularly powerful ... Published at a time when migration is a hugely topical issue, this story has obvious but telling parallels with today. Over a century later, only the nationalities have changed.
