It's spring--a snowy one in Northwestern Ontario--and our thoughts are turning to the Finnish Civil War. As they tend to do. (Maybe a "just us" thing? Probably.)
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| Stories written on birchbark |
This year, 2026, the dates of Easter don't fall on exactly the same dates as they did in 1918. Easter is about a week later--April 5, instead of March 31.
But important conflicts occurred near Easter, in "real life" and in the lives of the characters of SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR.
On Maundy Thursday, Karl Solbakken heads reluctantly into the cemetery where, for him, the sounds of the battle fall silent.
Meanwhile, Jussi Mantere and his father are bombing Tampere--a significant effort that changes forever how Jussi viewed the war's destruction and bloodshed.
When it's officially spring but snowing YET AGAIN, when armed conflict in the world seems to be escalating, we find it helpful to remember that in other wars, people who fight sometimes, eventually, do find peace, even dedicating their whole lives to maintaining it.
Roy Blomstrom's SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR is available online at this link.
