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 superficial: 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.

Author: Moa Backe Åstot
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Levine Querido
Published: 10/14/2025
Pages: 184
Size: 8.50h x 5.75w x 0.79d
ISBN: 9781646145751


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2025
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 09/01/2025

About the Author
Moa Backe Åstot, born in 1998 in Malmberget, is Sami and a reindeer owner. She has studied creative writing at Umeå University and Jakobsberg Folk School's well-regarded creative writing program. She has received a number of awards for her writing, among them one from Sveriges Radio in 2018 for her short story, "A Small Red Drop." She lives in Jokkmokk. Fire From the Sky is her debut novel.