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Lost Ground
The eyes of the world are on Finland in November 1939, as its war with Russia turns into a classic David and Goliath struggle. When Tom Henderson, a North American journalist, goes to Finland to cover the war he has no idea how far the assignment will take him. His relationships with Tina, a young Finnish woman, and Paul, her fiancé fighting at the front, escalate quickly and change all their lives. Tina must examine her priorities and emotions, and Tom’s journey takes him from the Berlin Olympics through wartime Helsinki to a place he had long since lost–his own heart. The backdrop for these stories is a tiny nation’s struggle for survival against massive odds.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 3, 2015
6 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Ulla Jordan
1 book3 followersUlla Jordan comes from a Finnish-Canadian background and was raised on tales of the Finnish Winter War, which she has also researched extensively. Her background includes teaching and graduate studies in English Literature at the University of Alberta. Writing is a vital aspect of her life and a way to connect with the world and keep her family’s stories alive.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 7, 2015
I just completed a wonderful novel by Ulla Jordan entitled Lost Ground, a work of historical fiction. This book really worked for me on different levels. I have always been a huge fan of this genre having read extensively James Michener and Gore Vidal among others. It is a drama/tragedy/love story/celebration of life with all its complexities set in Finland during the often overlooked 1939/1940 Russo/Finnish War.
Right off the bat the subject intrigued me because although I have a pretty fair knowledge of World War II, I really knew nothing about this particular war which is connected to the larger war. In that sense, it was a great education for me.
However it was the poignancy of the love story, really a love triangle that is interwoven with the calamitous and often horrendous events on the ground that drove this gripping drama. The story begins at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, scene of Jesse Owen’s triumphs and Adolf Hitler’s chagrin. Thomas Henderson, an American reporter is in town to cover the event and he by chance runs into the Finns Dr. Eric Bjornstrom and his daughter Tina at a hotel. She is there rooting for her fiancé Paul (although he never officially proposed) who is entered in the men’s five thousand meter event.
Tom is a tall, charismatic, hard bitten soul who covers his disappointments in life with a cultivated air of indifference and an enjoyment of good scotch. As he explains later in the novel “life is a game of catch-up. Trying to get back to where you were before your last mistake.” He reminded me a bit of Humphrey Bogart’s “Rick” in Casablanca. Tina is an understated pretty blue-eyed woman without any Hollywood pretension. She is shocked by a man’s use of the term “ass”, a term never spoken in her social circles. The attraction between them when he helps her pick of the contents of her spilled purse is immediate. Paul is a reluctant, passive, emotionally shut down man who is always aware of coming from a lower social position than Tina. Hence, he does not propose to her. When he takes a spill in the event and is eliminated, he feels his big chance in life is over. By coincidence, Tom was also a runner in his youth but an injury brought that phase of his life to an end.
Fast forward three years to Helsinki. Tom and his friend British journalist Philip Taylor are in town to cover the gathering storm in Finland as Stalin’s Russia threatens. Taylor calls his old friend Bjornstrom and he and Tom are invited over for dinner. Paul is also there and that very night, he gets his summons to report to the front. The story unfolds from there.
We learn that the three principal characters all have some hard luck in their backgrounds---early deaths of parents, an early jail experience, an unwanted pregnancy, and in the case of Tom and Paul, premature endings to their running careers. Tom, who feels anything other than sex with a woman brings on problems, begins to find his own heart as his relationship with Tina blossoms. However, Paul is at the front and he still loves Tina.
I won’t reveal how it all comes out but suffice to say that this reader’s emotions were completely engaged—such anticipation, joy, and sadness. The author’s phraseology is excellent with skilful use of metaphors, especially to describe the depth and ironies of life. The description of the war itself is very graphic and feels so real.
Finally, the story is concluded with a powerful and surprising ending. The author could have wrapped up the story in another more predictable way but I am so glad she chose the ending she did. I recommend this book to everyone.
Right off the bat the subject intrigued me because although I have a pretty fair knowledge of World War II, I really knew nothing about this particular war which is connected to the larger war. In that sense, it was a great education for me.
However it was the poignancy of the love story, really a love triangle that is interwoven with the calamitous and often horrendous events on the ground that drove this gripping drama. The story begins at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, scene of Jesse Owen’s triumphs and Adolf Hitler’s chagrin. Thomas Henderson, an American reporter is in town to cover the event and he by chance runs into the Finns Dr. Eric Bjornstrom and his daughter Tina at a hotel. She is there rooting for her fiancé Paul (although he never officially proposed) who is entered in the men’s five thousand meter event.
Tom is a tall, charismatic, hard bitten soul who covers his disappointments in life with a cultivated air of indifference and an enjoyment of good scotch. As he explains later in the novel “life is a game of catch-up. Trying to get back to where you were before your last mistake.” He reminded me a bit of Humphrey Bogart’s “Rick” in Casablanca. Tina is an understated pretty blue-eyed woman without any Hollywood pretension. She is shocked by a man’s use of the term “ass”, a term never spoken in her social circles. The attraction between them when he helps her pick of the contents of her spilled purse is immediate. Paul is a reluctant, passive, emotionally shut down man who is always aware of coming from a lower social position than Tina. Hence, he does not propose to her. When he takes a spill in the event and is eliminated, he feels his big chance in life is over. By coincidence, Tom was also a runner in his youth but an injury brought that phase of his life to an end.
Fast forward three years to Helsinki. Tom and his friend British journalist Philip Taylor are in town to cover the gathering storm in Finland as Stalin’s Russia threatens. Taylor calls his old friend Bjornstrom and he and Tom are invited over for dinner. Paul is also there and that very night, he gets his summons to report to the front. The story unfolds from there.
We learn that the three principal characters all have some hard luck in their backgrounds---early deaths of parents, an early jail experience, an unwanted pregnancy, and in the case of Tom and Paul, premature endings to their running careers. Tom, who feels anything other than sex with a woman brings on problems, begins to find his own heart as his relationship with Tina blossoms. However, Paul is at the front and he still loves Tina.
I won’t reveal how it all comes out but suffice to say that this reader’s emotions were completely engaged—such anticipation, joy, and sadness. The author’s phraseology is excellent with skilful use of metaphors, especially to describe the depth and ironies of life. The description of the war itself is very graphic and feels so real.
Finally, the story is concluded with a powerful and surprising ending. The author could have wrapped up the story in another more predictable way but I am so glad she chose the ending she did. I recommend this book to everyone.
June 24, 2015
This is a remarkable love story and a moving portrayal of the struggle of the Finnish people during the Winter War with Russia. The three main characters are unforgettable and we see insights into their lives through flashbacks and also their relationships during the crisis and the war. A great story and an authentic experience of living through a conflict often overlooked in the history of World War II.
September 18, 2015
I loved this book. Very moving and very well written with characters I won't soon forget. The story of tiny Finland taking on the Russian army is amazing. Great love story too.
January 14, 2019
Being of Finnish descent, I was excited to read this intriguing historical fiction book about the Finns battling Russia during WWII. It took me a few pages to get a grasp of the characters and the flow of the narrative but soon found myself immersed in the story. While the Russian troops push closer to the border, the Finnish army strikes back to defend their country, but the enemy is relentless. Finnish soldiers wounded and bleeding struggle to survive in subzero weather and yet are determined to stop the Russian military. Lost Ground was an engaging and informative read. I really enjoyed how the author interspersed pieces of the Finnish culture. I could taste the pulla bread and feel the revitalizing heat of the sauna. I would recommend this book to other readers interested in WWII historical fiction. Diane Dettmann, Author of Courageous Footsteps: A WWII Novel
September 18, 2015
Lost Ground opens with the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where Hitler’s fantasy of racial superiority was definitively trodden underfoot by the victories of black US athlete Jesse Owens.
Tina Björnström and her father, Eric, both Finns, have travelled to Berlin to watch Tina’s unofficial fiancé, Paul, participate in the five thousand metres event. Tom Henderson, a US reporter, is here to cover the Games. These are the novel’s four principal characters, and the story of Lost Ground is told from their multiple points of view – Eric’s experience is seen solely from the outside, while we enter directly into the consciousness of the other three. They take us from Berlin to Helsinki in Finland, via the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to the attack on Finland by the Soviet Union, the ceding of Karelia to the Soviets (the lost ground of the title) and ultimately through and beyond the Second World War.
These different perspectives provide the breadth of detail necessary to grasp events that are too big for any one person to experience in their entirety. Most of the shifts in point of view are made with smooth assurance, with only the occasional jolt at an abrupt transition. Characters’ past lives are evoked via internal reminiscence so that we can see in sharp outline their lingering effects on the present. These people are real and believable because they hold their flaws and their ideals in uneasy equilibrium, yet they are not simply the sum of their personality traits. Personhood is a complicated phenomenon that Jordan is not afraid to explore. It is this that makes her characters so compelling.
Tom Henderson, the strongest of the four, acts as our guide. Based in Helsinki at a hotel where foreign journalists assemble to await press briefings, type their notes and phone in their stories, Tom moves freely between his job, the warmth of the Björnström household and the Fennia, a café with a dance floor and – as Tom duly notes – something of a microcosm for the life of the nation. Staff at the Fennia leave when they are called up for military service, but somehow they are replaced and the eating and the dancing continue. Even the dance band is depleted, allowing Tom himself to step in and play jazz on the piano. It is always exhilarating when a writer finds an image such as this. Jordan finds many more.
Tom is a man who has forgotten how to be happy. ‘Love, he decided, was too fragile a word for his clumsy tongue. He resolved never to use it again.’ Yet it is he who asks perhaps the most important question in the novel: ‘Is that a sign of some kind? To be able to accept that some ground is lost forever and go on?’
A novel of the scale and ambition of Lost Ground, set amid momentous historical events that continue to shape our world, confronts its author with a series of questions: how far should historical events and personages obtrude into the narrative? To what extent can the writer assume that readers are familiar with the broad outlines of the history she describes? How can she best recreate the emotional response of a society to unprecedented threat? These are complicated questions. Ulla Jordan has clearly thought about them deeply, with a consummate writer’s instinct for what works best.
Lost Ground maintains an admirably assured balance between the personal and the political, and shows how one impinges on the other. The novel is principally a love story: of two men for one woman, and of a nation for its land and democratic institutions. Jordan writes with great economy when required – a few deft strokes are often sufficient to evoke a place, an experience – and with fascinating detail when necessary. One of my favourite passages provides a brilliant tactical overview of the military–political situation by means of a slice of rye bread, a dab of mustard and an olive.
Finnish myth and tradition also play an important part in evoking the national character. Intelligent use is made of recurring motifs in this register, especially folktales that ascribe symbolic significance to the natural world – swans and trees in particular. Whatever advance knowledge we may have brought to our reading, Lost Ground enriches us with an appreciation of the customs, civilized manners and idiosyncrasies of the Finnish national character of the time. I, for one, did not know that Finns drank coffee in such heroic quantities.
It may be churlish to discuss weaknesses in a book that is so well written and that provides so much pleasure, but I will risk it. In my opinion, Lost Ground captures completely the terrible juxtaposition of peace and comfort in Helsinki with the truly atrocious conditions for troops in the combat zone. In war, for civilians and combatants alike, there is a great deal of living and waiting and worrying to be done. However, the novel is shy about immersing us in combat, and I found myself wanting to experience a conflict rather than simply be told about it.
Another difficulty is that the fate of one of the main characters is foreseeable early on. The cold hand of determinism is seldom a comfortable experience for readers. In Lost Ground, its grip militates against the tension and uncertainty of the war itself, although this is partially mitigated by the ending of the novel, which has an unexpectedly dying fall. That ending – a kind of gradual descent – might leave some readers dissatisfied. Yet life rarely provides closure and more often than not requires us to wait, adjust and carry on living.
Perhaps that is the great lesson and principal achievement of Lost Ground, which I thoroughly recommend to readers interested in gifted storytelling and accomplished writing.
Tina Björnström and her father, Eric, both Finns, have travelled to Berlin to watch Tina’s unofficial fiancé, Paul, participate in the five thousand metres event. Tom Henderson, a US reporter, is here to cover the Games. These are the novel’s four principal characters, and the story of Lost Ground is told from their multiple points of view – Eric’s experience is seen solely from the outside, while we enter directly into the consciousness of the other three. They take us from Berlin to Helsinki in Finland, via the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to the attack on Finland by the Soviet Union, the ceding of Karelia to the Soviets (the lost ground of the title) and ultimately through and beyond the Second World War.
These different perspectives provide the breadth of detail necessary to grasp events that are too big for any one person to experience in their entirety. Most of the shifts in point of view are made with smooth assurance, with only the occasional jolt at an abrupt transition. Characters’ past lives are evoked via internal reminiscence so that we can see in sharp outline their lingering effects on the present. These people are real and believable because they hold their flaws and their ideals in uneasy equilibrium, yet they are not simply the sum of their personality traits. Personhood is a complicated phenomenon that Jordan is not afraid to explore. It is this that makes her characters so compelling.
Tom Henderson, the strongest of the four, acts as our guide. Based in Helsinki at a hotel where foreign journalists assemble to await press briefings, type their notes and phone in their stories, Tom moves freely between his job, the warmth of the Björnström household and the Fennia, a café with a dance floor and – as Tom duly notes – something of a microcosm for the life of the nation. Staff at the Fennia leave when they are called up for military service, but somehow they are replaced and the eating and the dancing continue. Even the dance band is depleted, allowing Tom himself to step in and play jazz on the piano. It is always exhilarating when a writer finds an image such as this. Jordan finds many more.
Tom is a man who has forgotten how to be happy. ‘Love, he decided, was too fragile a word for his clumsy tongue. He resolved never to use it again.’ Yet it is he who asks perhaps the most important question in the novel: ‘Is that a sign of some kind? To be able to accept that some ground is lost forever and go on?’
A novel of the scale and ambition of Lost Ground, set amid momentous historical events that continue to shape our world, confronts its author with a series of questions: how far should historical events and personages obtrude into the narrative? To what extent can the writer assume that readers are familiar with the broad outlines of the history she describes? How can she best recreate the emotional response of a society to unprecedented threat? These are complicated questions. Ulla Jordan has clearly thought about them deeply, with a consummate writer’s instinct for what works best.
Lost Ground maintains an admirably assured balance between the personal and the political, and shows how one impinges on the other. The novel is principally a love story: of two men for one woman, and of a nation for its land and democratic institutions. Jordan writes with great economy when required – a few deft strokes are often sufficient to evoke a place, an experience – and with fascinating detail when necessary. One of my favourite passages provides a brilliant tactical overview of the military–political situation by means of a slice of rye bread, a dab of mustard and an olive.
Finnish myth and tradition also play an important part in evoking the national character. Intelligent use is made of recurring motifs in this register, especially folktales that ascribe symbolic significance to the natural world – swans and trees in particular. Whatever advance knowledge we may have brought to our reading, Lost Ground enriches us with an appreciation of the customs, civilized manners and idiosyncrasies of the Finnish national character of the time. I, for one, did not know that Finns drank coffee in such heroic quantities.
It may be churlish to discuss weaknesses in a book that is so well written and that provides so much pleasure, but I will risk it. In my opinion, Lost Ground captures completely the terrible juxtaposition of peace and comfort in Helsinki with the truly atrocious conditions for troops in the combat zone. In war, for civilians and combatants alike, there is a great deal of living and waiting and worrying to be done. However, the novel is shy about immersing us in combat, and I found myself wanting to experience a conflict rather than simply be told about it.
Another difficulty is that the fate of one of the main characters is foreseeable early on. The cold hand of determinism is seldom a comfortable experience for readers. In Lost Ground, its grip militates against the tension and uncertainty of the war itself, although this is partially mitigated by the ending of the novel, which has an unexpectedly dying fall. That ending – a kind of gradual descent – might leave some readers dissatisfied. Yet life rarely provides closure and more often than not requires us to wait, adjust and carry on living.
Perhaps that is the great lesson and principal achievement of Lost Ground, which I thoroughly recommend to readers interested in gifted storytelling and accomplished writing.
November 23, 2020
A lovely book. I actually rated it as a 4 and 1/2 star read. Find out more at www.cloquetriverpress.com.
Peace.
Mark
Peace.
Mark
August 17, 2015
Tom Henderson (narrator, journalist, Chicago Chronicle, aka Amundsen) was the reporter from the US covering it.
Not by chance in Berlin at the 1936 Olympics, Tom had meets Dr. Eric Björnström (father, history, former Finnish Embassy, aka Skipper) & his daughter Tina Björnström daughter).
Fast forward 11/30/1939, the Winter War (Russia vs. Finland) had begun.
Tina’s lover/B/F Paul Salmi (former Olympic runner, HS, ROTC, soldier) was off fighting on the front.
A love triangle deluxe.
What happens with all the characters as the War plays out?
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. Wow, a very well written true/false historical fiction War romance book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of very unique/colorful characters to keep track of. This could also make another great War romance movie, or mini TV series. A very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free Goodreads; Author; PDF book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
Not by chance in Berlin at the 1936 Olympics, Tom had meets Dr. Eric Björnström (father, history, former Finnish Embassy, aka Skipper) & his daughter Tina Björnström daughter).
Fast forward 11/30/1939, the Winter War (Russia vs. Finland) had begun.
Tina’s lover/B/F Paul Salmi (former Olympic runner, HS, ROTC, soldier) was off fighting on the front.
A love triangle deluxe.
What happens with all the characters as the War plays out?
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. Wow, a very well written true/false historical fiction War romance book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of very unique/colorful characters to keep track of. This could also make another great War romance movie, or mini TV series. A very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free Goodreads; Author; PDF book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
March 25, 2016
Lost Ground was an interesting one and not my usual read. It starts in 1936 and then takes in the 'Winter War' through the eyes of an American journalist, a young Finnish woman and her fiancee out at the front.
It's an interesting mix of war novel and love triangle romance. I must admit to not being blown away by the romance, it felt tired and slightly unreal to me. There was extensive research done to write this novel and I loved the attention to detail, but I didn't adore the novel. It was moderately gripping, but the characters have already slid from my mind. I didn't hate it and I didn't love it, I found it moderately entertaining and not particularly memorable.
I'm afraid even several days after finishing the book, I can't recall any of the action or the characters. It isn't the skill of the author, it may just be that this is not my kind of book.
It's an interesting mix of war novel and love triangle romance. I must admit to not being blown away by the romance, it felt tired and slightly unreal to me. There was extensive research done to write this novel and I loved the attention to detail, but I didn't adore the novel. It was moderately gripping, but the characters have already slid from my mind. I didn't hate it and I didn't love it, I found it moderately entertaining and not particularly memorable.
I'm afraid even several days after finishing the book, I can't recall any of the action or the characters. It isn't the skill of the author, it may just be that this is not my kind of book.
November 17, 2017
I read this as a self-published book for the 2017 reading challenge, and when I finished I didn't feel like I was completely capable of writing a review of it. I thought it was an interesting story about a situation we rarely hear of - Finland's war against the USSR at the dawn of WWII. And I feel that it was fairly well-written. Certain images had stayed in my head in the last three months since I read it. But at the end of the day, I don't feel like the characters' journeys had any massive influence over my life, no lingering wistfulness or deep impact on my view of the world. It was interesting, but nothing more than that.
December 8, 2016
Part of WW II we seldom hear about
Because we seldom hear about how Russia overtook Finland and how The Finns fought to retain their independence, I strongly recommend Ulla Jordan's fine novel. It is a well written historical novel that will tug at your heart as well fill in a piece of history well worth knowing about.
Because we seldom hear about how Russia overtook Finland and how The Finns fought to retain their independence, I strongly recommend Ulla Jordan's fine novel. It is a well written historical novel that will tug at your heart as well fill in a piece of history well worth knowing about.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews