Mariekkela: From Finland, with Love by Stuart Ledwith PhD – Review by Shelly Kittell

Mariekkela: From Finland, with Love by Stuart Ledwith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an intriguing book. Mariekkela is a historical fiction story that will pull you in from page 1. Mariekkela was brutally attacked and left for dead when the Russians attacked her and her fiancé, along with 2 other couples in a barn sauna in Finland. With only a dog and old horse to keep her warm, she is found 3 days later and rescued by a surgeon. He takes her to the first country house he comes across and the lady of the house helps him bring Mariekkela back to health. Eventually, she remembers what happens. After learning about what happens and feeling that she just can’t live with the body she has, she gets one of the soldiers from her fiance’s unit to take her back to the barn where it all happened. There they are ambushed and she is killed, but not without getting off a few shots first. Mariekkella notes that she dead and visits everyone she left behind to let them know that they are okay and they will be okay. She meets Noah, her guide. She guides the healer from the hospital. She sees and talks to Kari. What gets interesting to me is that Kari comes back as Dr. Stu and remembers everything but Mariekkela comes back as Amelia and has body memories but no memories of her past life. Amelia feels a little weaker than Mariekella but has some strengths that Mariekella didn’t. The historical descriptions were very good. The hospital scenes felt like you were right there. You could feel how tired Dr. Aarne was. Dr. Aarne was my favorite character because he just kept going. He was strong and did show his weakness when needed (his wife’s death). The characters overall were realistic. A good book for historic fiction fans to devour.

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