The novel begins in 1741 when naturalist Steller discovers the sea cow after his expedition is stranded on an island off Kamchatka. The skeleton of one of Steller's sea cows forms the red thread in the novel, left behind during a rescue expedition and later found to eventually end up in Helsinki. The novel features Steller, an 18th-century natural science explorer, as a key figure in this historical timeline.
Key characters span different centuries, including Hampus Furuhjelm, a 19th-century governor in the Russian provinces in Alaska who subdues indigenous peoples and natural resources, and John Grönvall, a 20th-century restorer at the Zoological Museum in Helsinki who works to create a nature reserve on Aspskär in Eastern Nyland. Hilda Olsson becomes a draftsman for Professor Alexander von Nordmann in 1861 and accompanies him on research expeditions, but when von Nordmann dies, she, as a woman, no longer gets work in Finland and instead becomes a wallpaper designer in England. ' The translator Janina Orlov has really succeeded with the linguistic nuances, according to multiple reports.
The living is a sensationally good novel with a magnificent content.
The exact publication date and page count of the novel have not been confirmed, and details on broader critical or public reception beyond this review remain unclear.