Loukko by 
Original title: Esikoinen
Author: Maria Peura
Published: 2023
Publisher: Otava
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 320
Reading material:
English sample
Finnish manuscript
A heartrending autobiographical novel about one’s own child being placed in an institution and about feeling out of place as a child
The author starts putting together the story of her firstborn child – a child whose ill-being and problematic behavior eventually led to him being placed in a child protection institution. Only now, when everything is okay, does the author dare to put her own distress and guilt into words. “What mistakes did I make? How was I trespassed against and why has my child ended up broken because of me being broken?”
Maria Peura’s autobiographical novel is a relentlessly honest and lyrically beautiful depiction of the cycles of trauma, of the effects of violence, and the chance for light and survival.
“FIRSTBORN is a heartrending and elegantly built story. It talks about a mother who has experienced belittling as a child and domestic violence and who now has to relinquish her child into child protection institution. [---] A mother’s love is the core theme of the novel. It is depicted in many forms, in different stages of life and in different directions [---]. It is a personal and intimate novel. In its subject matter, it is a profound and skillful novel. [---] Peura impressively depicts the magnitude and the personal, tearing impact of the events [described in the book].”
– Outi Hytönen, Suomen Kuvalehti magazine
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