With the upcoming adaptation of Miakel Niemi’s book To Cook A Bear (Koka björn) coming to Disney+ in October, Nordic Watchlist revisits the famous Swedish novel before the series’ release.
Truth is often stranger than fiction. While the plot here is a literary creation, Pastor Lars Levi Laestadius -the central character of Mikael Niemi’s To Cook a Bear – was in fact a real person. Less known outside of his native Sweden, Laestadius was a pioneer, celebrated not only for his preaching but also for his botanical and scientific discoveries.
Against this backdrop, Niemi paints a fictional tale that is part historical novel, part Sherlock Holmes-like murder mystery, and part social commentary on Sámi oppression.
In northern Sweden, the pastor takes into his household an abandoned Sámi boy. With no knowledge of his name, age, and only fleeting memories of his origins, the pastor names him Jussi and becomes part servant, part sidekick, and, on some level, a surrogate son. Laestadius’ own child has died of measles, and Jussi is taken under the pastor’s wing, taught to read and write – taboo for Sámi children at the time – as well as schooled in the flora and fauna of northern Sweden.
The pastor also has a keen eye. When a local milkmaid is found dead in the woods, he questions the local sheriff’s belief that a wild bear was responsible. A bear is caught, and the villagers rejoice, feasting on its meat, but the pastor has other suspicions.
When a second girl is attacked, the bear theory becomes harder to sustain. Laestadius remains a lone voice in a community caught up in bear-hunt hysteria. As the attacks continue, suspicion falls on Jussi himself, the Sámi youth regarded by many as scarcely less wild than the beasts of the forest.
Niemi paints an evocative picture of rural Sweden in the mid-19th century. It is a time of prohibition, with the puritan church preaching restraint, and of cultural tension, as Finnish, Swedish, and Sámi communities begin to intermingle through migration. Sámi oppression continued well into the 20th century – in some ways persisting today -and Niemi does not shy away from depicting the distrust and prejudice Jussi faces as he struggles to integrate into a society that sees him as less than human.
There are powerful descriptions of the violence he endures, including chilling reminders that Sámi skulls were once treated as scientific specimens, sold to prove the now-discredited theory that the Sámi were a “subhuman” race.
Away from the brutality – though Niemi does not flinch from the horrors of the crimes committed – the novel is also a moving coming-of-age story. Narrated largely by Jussi, it captures the search for identity, the trials of growing up, and the pain of first love. The era may be distant, but the humanity of the emotions is both powerful and raw.
To Cook a Bear is also a love letter to rural Swedish life. The pastor’s reverence for nature is vividly rendered as he teaches his young protégé to identify plants and observe the ways nature itself provides clues to the mysteries around them.
Niemi’s To Cook a Bear is not an easy read. Dense with detail and rich in storytelling, it resists skimming, but the rewards are considerable. Beyond its historical insight, it offers a thought-provoking reflection on prejudice, oppression, and the universal need to belong – themes that resonate as strongly today as in Laestadius’ time.
To Cook a Bear, by Mikael Niemi, translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner, is published in hardback, paperback and ebook by MacLehose Press. The book adaptation will be on Disney+ from the 15th October
