Aili Konttinen (1906–1969)

Six-year-old Kirsti was evacuated from her home in Finland during World War II, when she was just a baby, and raised by wealthy Swedish foster parents. Now that the war is over, she must return to Finland and the poor farm family she doesn't even know. She doesn't even speak a word of Finnish. This is the story of the year following her arrival back in Finland.

I don't think this is the world's greatest-written book or anything, but the story resonates just as much now as it did back in the 1940s. Any adoptee or foster child or anyone who had to move to a very different place would understand Kirsti's loneliness, and any parent would understand her biological and foster parents' anguish and worry about her.

So if you happen to come across this book and have an interest in the topic, by all means read it. I don't think it's worth deliberately seeking out, though; it's quite a rare book in the US at least, available in only a couple of libraries.… (meer)