Blomsterdalen

What secrets does Blomsterdalen hold? The name itself, “Flower Valley,” evokes a sense of serenity. Yet, Niviaq Korneliussen’s novel, also titled Blomsterdalen, reveals a stark contrast to this idyllic image. The novel, set in Greenland, uses the cemetery in Blomsterdalen as a poignant symbol. The nameless graves, adorned with colorful plastic flowers against the white snow, represent the unspoken tragedy of suicide. Blomsterdalen is more than just a setting in a novel. It’s a real place in Tasiilaq, East Greenland, where the story’s protagonist envisions her own burial. Korneliussen paints a vivid picture of this cemetery. She uses the image of blue, red, and pink plastic flowers lying on the snow-covered graves. This powerful imagery underscores the novel’s themes of love, loss, and the pervasive silence surrounding suicide in Greenlandic society. Blomsterdalen becomes a metaphor for the emotional landscape of the characters, a place of both beauty and sorrow. The novel, which won the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2021, sheds light on the devastatingly high suicide rate in Greenland. It’s a story of love, friendship, and grief, set against the backdrop of a society grappling with a difficult past and an uncertain future. Blomsterdalen, both the real place and its literary counterpart, serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of breaking the silence around mental health and seeking help for those who need it.