When Jays fly to Barbmo

When Jays Fly to Barbmo

- Margaret Balderson

Book Three - Twelve books about WW2

The time is 1940, the location is a remote island in northern Norway and the protagonist is Ingeborg a teenage girl who has to make some big decisions. 

In early 1940, Norway was not yet involved in World War 2 and many Norwegians hoped that they would continue to remain uninvolved. Switzerland had claimed neutrality, Norway would claim it as well. While so many other countries had been secretly or not secretly building and fortifying their armed forces Norway was running late and had remained relatively unprepared. In fact when Germany swiftly and silently invaded Norway on the 9th of April (exactly 74 years to the day that I am writing this!), Norway did not even have a standing army. What Norway did have though was cities with harbors that didn't freeze in winter and when both the Allied and German forces wanted control over iron ore resources and and transport in the Baltic sea, Norway became an important playing piece in the war. 

Now to the story!

Ingeborg lives with her father Arne, her father's sister Anne-Sigri and an old friend of her father's called the Wood Troll. Just before this book begins, Ingeborg ran away from the small city boarding school because she missed her home and her father. However, now she is where she wanted to be, Ingeborg feels closed in and she is knows that the family has secrets. No one will talk to her about her mother who died in childbirth, her aunt adores her father but he can barely stand the sight of her, and Ingeborg wishes the Wood Troll would be more open and stop talking in riddles. 

In northern Norway where Ingeborg lives there are months on end of darkness during the winter. Ingeborg loves the arctic air, the brooding mountains and the deep blanket of snow but she also feels the 'dark sickness' when the endless night causes her to feel restless and scatty. 

Not long after the invasion Ingeborg's father is killed by Germans as he tries to help some Norwegian soldiers escape in his boat. The small family is distraught and Ingeborg demands the Wood Troll tell her about her mother. He finally complies. Her mother, Susanna, was a Lappish girl, the native wanderers of Norway. Susanna had married happily, but her natural wanderlust had made her feel trapped at the farm and her relaxed ways had created tension between her and Anne-Sigri. Days before she was to give birth to Ingeborg, Susanna was suffering from dark sickness and she made for the hills desperately wanting to be free. Arne was away on a fishing trip and by the time Susanna was found she was dead but Ingeborg, miraculously, was alive. Arne in despair blamed Anne-Sigri for Susanna's death.

Finally understanding her true identity, Ingeborg feels strongly that she wants to follow her mother's last journey. If she leaves she will have the free, exciting life she has always dreamt about. However, leaving will also mean turning her back on the dangers facing her community, on the Wood Troll who Ingeborg discovers is Jewish and her friend Viekko who is attempting to hide from the Germans so he won't be forced into service. 

While much of this book is focused on Ingeborg discovering her Lappish heritage and working out what she really wants for herself there is another theme. This other theme show the various reactions made by groups and individuals about the war. The Norwegians try to avoid it, the Lapps ignore it and Ingeborg's father faces it. The word "Barbmo" in the title refers to that place over the horizon that birds fly to at the start of winter. The Jay bird customarily stays throughout winter. In this novel, Ingeborg must decide if she will fly to safe Barbmo or stay and face out the winter.

"I am so heartily sick of not knowing who or what I am, I said."

This book would be in my top 20. 

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