The Winter Place

After relocating to Finland following a family tragedy, a brother and sister find themselves entangled in the fractured and fantastical realms of Finnish mysticism in this atmospheric and emotionally resonant young adult novel.

Teenaged Tess and ten-year-old Axel don’t know what to think when a stranger shows up in their backyard accompanied by a giant brown bear. But the strangeness of the encounter is quickly swept aside when they receive the devastating news that their father has been killed in a freak car accident.

Having lost their mother years before, Tess and Axel are now orphans with nowhere to turn except to the maternal grandparents they’ve never met, who live in Finland. Axel takes the change in stride with determined optimism, but strong-willed Tess clashes with her strict grandmother and struggles to adjust.

But Finland has more in store for them as mystical forces begin to take notice of the new arrivals. Axel is followed everywhere by an empty wheelchair no one else sees—an ominous reminder of the muscular dystrophy he inherited from his mother and grandfather. And the man with the bear reappears.

The man calls himself a keeper of souls and claims the bear is the ghost of a loved one Tess and Axel have lost. Axel gets drawn deeper into the world of ghosts, haunted houses, and the afterlife, while Tess fights to keep their small family together. Can the siblings find a way to reconnect with each other and process their grief—or are will they lose each other in the unforgiving snow?