Lida Starodubtseva explores Ingermanland history in new novel

Lida Starodubtseva’s novel, ‘Hilja går’, explores the historical fate of the Ingermanland population. The story follows Hilja, a 28-year-old woman who travels on foot from Siberia to Ingermanland in 1954.

The narrative is inspired by the real-life history of the Finnish-speaking population near Leningrad, who were forcibly deported to Siberia by the Stalin regime during the 1930s. The novel depicts the brutal conditions of these deportations and the subsequent struggle to reclaim their origins and homeland.