Kittilä Rewind

A sensitive and insightful novel about love, the power of stories, and finding your own place

“The ending is perfect, and I don’t want to know what happens after.
I rewind the movie, watch the ending again. And again.
Baby, you’re gonna miss that plane.”

When 17-year-old Joonatan’s mother suddenly dies, he decides to move from Helsinki to Kittilä to live with his almost unknown father. A new beginning in the North brings painful memories to the surface, and the question of what really happened nearly twenty years ago when his parents first met on a bright summer night.

With the help of an online crisis therapist and the Richard Linklater films he finds on his father’s shelf, Joonatan tries to figure out whether the story his mother told about their life was only half true. The mix is further complicated by the social dynamics of a small village, where a gang maintains an atmosphere of fear. At the same time the leader of the group fighting against them, the gray-eyed and defiant Susi, makes Joonatan’s heart beat faster. Can love piece the story together?