Hanna Pylväinen's new novel, The End of Drum-Time, opens with the ground quite literally shaking beneath a Lutheran congregation. It sets the tone for a novel wrapped up in understanding how faith, nature and human connection work alongside – and sometimes against – one another in an 1850s community of native Sámi reindeer herders in the Scandinavian Arctic. In today's episode, Pylväinen speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the nuances of writing in an omniscient voice and the power of lived experience for understanding a faraway place and culture.
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