Butterfly Heart

by Moa Backe Åstot, Agnes Broomé (translator)

Vilda takes life as it comes, talking for hours about everything and nothing with her best friend, Alma. It's never been a big deal to Vilda that her mother's side of the family is Sámi and her father's is Swedish, but as summer vacation starts, she wants to know more about her indigenous roots-and she's looking forward to her beloved grandfather, Áddjá, teaching her the Sámi language.

Then Áddjá has a fatal heart attack and, overnight, Vilda loses not only a person she loves most in the world, but a crucial link to her history and identity. It's disorienting in ways deep and she doesn't know what to wear, what to say, or how Alma and her friends should react. And all this comes while her body is changing, and she's swamped by confusing thoughts and feelings about an older boy she meets at her grandfather's funeral.

Feeling whole seems impossibly hard to reach.

Butterfly Heart is a tender, heartwarming story about love, grief, and the right to define who you are.

Genres: Grief, Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Indigenous, Sweden, Audiobook

184 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Vilda's granddad dies, she feels alone, lost, and overwhelmed. Her Áddjá was everything to her — the closest person to her heart — but he was also her only link to something unknown and distant: the Sámi world.

Vilda knows that she is half Sámi, but she doesn’t truly understand what that means. He had been trying to teach her the Sámi language — once forbidden and unwelcome, now rising from the ashes. Unfortunately, he started too late for Vilda to become fluent, but early and successfully enough to spark her interest and curiosity.

But this tale isn’t just about the almost vanished Sámi culture. It’s also about the power of love — parental love, the love between siblings, first love, friendship, and grief. Grief almost crushes Vilda; it’s too strong for her to deal with on her own. This pain radiates outward — it’s poisonous.

Irma, Vilda’s little sister, grieves almost twice over. Not only has she lost her granddad too, but she has also lost her big sister to grief. They used to be close, but now...

This beautiful book, written in tender and delicate prose, is one I would recommend to everyone. I encourage parents to read it with their children. I encourage schools to have it on their shelves and to discuss it with students. There is much to learn from it, and it offers many starting points for meaningful conversations.

[Lupita_333 (on a break) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story even though it was a bit too YA for my liking. The author did a great job at presenting grief in an adolescent learning about her own Sàmi culture which also helps her feel closer to her deceased grandfather, learning how to navigate life with grief, and how the grief affected her family/friendship dynamics.

[Jeff Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent exploration of grief and its impact on a teenager! Well written, and yet I believe something is lost in translation. Sami is an interesting culture, little known in USA.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Butterfly Heart - 3/5 stars

"It's not your clothes that make you Sámi, right? You're the same person inside, no matter what you wear."

*This was sent to me by Moa Backe Åstot, Agnes Broomé and Levine Querido via Netgalley for an honest review; thank you so much for the opportunity*

Trigger/ Content Warnings
Descriptions of familial death
Depictions of grief
Detailed descriptions of menstruation
Racism (including microaggressions)

Review
This story follows Vilda, a 14 year old half Swedish/half Sámi girl, as she navigates life feeling disconnected to her indigenous family roots and sets out to change this by learning the Sámi language. However, on the day she is to start learning from her grandfather, Áddjá, he unfortunately passes from a heart attack and she is left even more disconnected from her heritage than before. I enjoyed the depictions of grief as it was clear how much his death affected the main character, leaving her to piece together her roots alone with just a dictionary, her Áddjá's diary and the memories she has of him speaking.

I struggled with this book as I was expecting a more mature narration given this is labelled young adult, however Vilda's character felt especially juvenile and naïve. The depictions of her first period especially felt juvenile as she suddenly felt 'grown up' because of starting her period, obsessed with bras which made me a little uncomfortable to read due to the age of the character and how young she acted. I am all for menstruation being talked about and described in books, in fact I think it is super important and I ironically read the end of this book whilst on my period myself, however again because of her age it just felt uncomfortable. That is probably just a me thing but I did not expect to read it.

The thing I enjoyed most about this book was the interwoven Sámi included in character's dialogue and inner narration which was beautifully added and really helped connect me to the story despite not enjoying the main character.

Overall
I truly wish I enjoyed this more but unfortunately I just did not. If you're looking for a quick read that features indigenous voices then I do think it is worth giving this book a go and hopefully, you enjoy it more than me!

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[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚Butterfly Heart
✍🏻Moa Backe Åstot
Blurb:
Vilda takes life as it comes, talking for hours about everything and nothing with her best friend, Alma. It's never been a big deal to Vilda that her mother's side of the family is Sámi and her father's is Swedish, but as summer vacation starts, she wants to know more about her indigenous roots-and she's looking forward to her beloved grandfather, Áddjá, teaching her the Sámi language.

Then Áddjá has a fatal heart attack and, overnight, Vilda loses not only a person she loves most in the world, but a crucial link to her history and identity. It's disorienting in ways deep and she doesn't know what to wear, what to say, or how Alma and her friends should react. And all this comes while her body is changing, and she's swamped by confusing thoughts and feelings about an older boy she meets at her grandfather's funeral.

Feeling whole seems impossibly hard to reach.

Butterfly Heart is a tender, heartwarming story about love, grief, and the right to define who you are.
My Thoughts:
Vilda is a half-Sami girl who is starting to take an interest in Sami culture when her beloved grandfather dies. As she's grieving, she continues trying to figure out her Sami identity, especially when classmates start calling it into question because she doesn't speak or "look" Sami. So she starts learning just as she has her first crush on an older Sami boy who attended her grandfather's funeral.
Vilda is very much 13-almost-14, with big, explosive emotions, and combined with the fact she's grieving, she doesn't have a good handle on them. She can be pretty frustrating and unlikable, but in a very realistic way. She also starts her period, and her best friend isn't supportive during her grief, and all her friends just want to hang out with boys now... and I remember exactly how it feels to have so much going on and having trouble dealing with it all. I was not the type to slam doors and yell at my parents, but I could see why Vilda acted that way, and I think the strength of this book is in helping readers understand or remember how overwhelming it can be to be that age without the maturity or skills to cope in a healthy way. And of course it was lovely to see a Sami girl take pride and interest in her culture.
Thanks NetGalley, Levine Querido Publishing and Author Moa Backe Åstot for the advanced copy of "Butterfly Heart" I am leaving my voluntary review in appreciation.
#NetGalley
#MoeBackeÅstot
#LevineQueridoPublishing
#ButterflyHeart
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[sparkypink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful story about a young Swedish Sami girl who is coming to terms with her identity and heritage, all while going through the normal angst of adolescence and processing the death of her beloved grandfather. The author captures the adolescent experience perfectly so anyone reading this would relate to Vilda, no matter where they are from. This book sheds light on the experience of the Sami people and how they were forced to give up their language and cultures to appease the rest of the population, with many similarities to the experiences of indigenous and First Nation people of the United States and Canada.

I received a digital ARC of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. Full disclosure: I listened to the audiobook after it was published. I highly recommend the audiobook as you can hear the pronunciation of the Sami words that are spoken throughout the book.

[K.C. Norton]

This was aimed at a much younger audience than I anticipated, but I’ve enjoyed Åstot’s work before, and I don’t often see books from Sámi authors. Not rating this because I really do feel like it’s aimed at 12-to-13-year-olds and included a lot of first crush and puberty content that I, in my advanced years, find personally exhausting. 😂 But I think young readers in Vilda’s general age group will find this relatable, and the sister relationship made me laugh; please note that there are some swears in here, including a couple of f-bombs (used in the deeply awkward way of a teenager who’s trying and failing to sound mature), but nothing explicit in terms of content.

[Sarah Pavelko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story on finding yourself

This was a beautiful witty YA novel. I could feel my feelings from back then so poignantly from what the character went through from crushes, to your body changing, working out relationships, grief and identify. It was a great read.

[Ally Renell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes things are lost in translation when it comes to translated teen books, but Vilda's (why did I not name my one of my children that) grief and feelings of early teendom are unmistakable. Sweet and sad, I would have rated it higher but the secondhand embarrassment was a bit too much for me.

[Neva · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet YA story about a half Sami, teenager who is experiencing grief and puberty at the same time. It felt stilted and forced a few too many teen themes at once. I think we could have focused solely on her Sami identity tied into her grief for a stronger story.

[Zev · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was not the intended audience for this.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Leslie Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how to pronounce a lot of the words in this book, but it was a very beautiful story!

[Linda Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet book about new beginnings, familial love, missing loved ones. Grief and love can be one and the same.