Lars Walker has a new book out, and he was kind enough to send me a review copy. It’s called Troll Valley, and I think it’s his best work to date.

They always tell aspiring writers that they should write what they know. As commonly understood, I think this is hogwash—a writer needs to be able to go beyond his personal experience to date. But there’s no denying that when it’s done well, the personal touch can bring an immediacy and a concreteness to a work. And that’s precisely what Lars has done here.

Troll Valley concerns the childhood and young adulthood of a young fellow named Christian Anderson, who was born in the small town of Epsom, Minnesota at a time when the Civil War was still in living memory. His family and his neighbors are all Norwegian immigrants, and he grows up speaking Norwegian at home. He and many of his neighbors are members of the Haugean sect of Lutheranism, an austere sect banning all dancing, alcohol, and similar frivolity. This is, if I recall correctly, the background of Lars’ own family; and at one point, in passing, Christian meets a fellow named John Walker, who I suspect is one of Lars’ own ancestors.

Christian’s obvious problem is that he was born with a useless arm, and in a farming community, where physical strength is required, he soons learns to think that he’s no good. But this is not simply a historical novel about the horrors of growing up. Christian has an additional problem. When he is scared, or angry, he begins to see “red caps,” the little men of Scandinavian folklore. And he soon learns that when he sees them he has to calm himself, to shut down his emotions, that, in fact, he has to avoid conflict…because otherwise something awful will happen. He is helped in this by his godmother, Margit, who I hesitate to call his fairy godmother because that gives entirely the wrong impression; but that in fact is what she is. The result is a book about anger and betrayal, about misguided ideals, about learning to live with your demons.

I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I’ll limit myself to a few observations.

First, Faerie is hard to get right. It must be mysterious, and perilous, and fraught with danger for the mortal man who is touched by it. It must not be allowed to become too familiar, or it quite literally loses its magic. Lars handles this deftly and well, while putting his own unique spin on it.

Second, this is a neat period piece, about a time and place and people I hadn’t known much about. Now I do.

And third, the book includes everything it ought to, and still left me wanting more. I finished it a couple of days ago, and I’m still pondering it.

Troll Valley is available as an e-book from the Kindle, Nook and (IIRC) the Apple iBooks stores.