Sharon White, "If the Owl Calls" (WTAW Press, 2025)

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Interview with Sharon White on "If the Owl Calls" (WTAW Press, 2025)

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: G.P. Gottlieb
Guest: Sharon White
Episode Date: November 19, 2025

---

Overview of Episode

This episode features a thoughtful conversation between host G.P. Gottlieb and author Sharon White about her upcoming novel, If the Owl Calls. Set in northern Norway during the 1970s, the novel is a beautifully written mystery exploring themes of identity, memory, survival, the environment, and the Sami culture—framed by a story of sabotage at a hydroelectric dam and a mysterious death. Sharon White draws on her personal experiences living in Norway to paint an evocative portrait of a land and people at a crossroads.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Inspiration and Setting

• Origin of the Novel's Setting:
  • Sharon White lived in Finnmark, Norway, after college and was deeply influenced by the landscape and culture.
  • Her personal dilemma about living in constant winter darkness inspired elements of the protagonist's journey.
  • Quote:
    “I fell in love with Finnmark, where the novel is set… I was trying to decide whether I was going to move to Finnmark, have a life there, and I decided not to because actually, in the winter, it's completely dark for several months.” (02:45)

2. The Meaning Behind the Title

• Title Origins:
  • Taken from a line in a John Haynes poem about Alaska, reflecting the northern, snowy atmosphere.
  • Previous titles were discarded until this one felt right.
  • Quote:
    “I really wanted to have a title that was set in a very, you know, in a snowy northern place... [John Haynes] actually has a poem that… a piece of it is if the owl Calls. And I thought, oh, that's really wonderful.” (04:08)

3. Themes: Survival and Identity

• Survival: Emotional & Physical
  • Survival is both literal (harsh landscape, reindeer herding, farming) and emotional for the characters, especially outsiders like Catherine, the American.
  • Quote:
    “It's sort of emotional survival and physical survival, at least for many of the characters. And it's a rough terrain in Finnmark.” (05:06)
• Identity and Culture
  • The narrative examines what it means to belong, focusing on Hans, who is of Sami descent but estranged from his roots.

4. Characters

• Catherine (The American):
  • Based on real international youth work in Norway; Catherine is seeking a romanticized wilderness experience but confronts the hard reality.
  • Quote:
    “She’s always wanted to be in a situation where she could feel like she was surviving in the wilderness… And finally, she's in a place where she sees that it's not a romantic idea at all.” (06:21)
• Hans Sorensen (Protagonist Detective):
  • Oslo detective, recently widowed, and emotionally burnt out; once connected to Sami culture, now removed.
  • Motivated by family legacy and identity crisis.
  • Quote:
    “He felt estranged from the north. He grew up in Finnmark, but he wanted a different kind of life. So he's become a cop… He's burned out." (07:41)
• Journalist and Musician:
  • Two women pivotal to the mystery plot. The journalist, from Bergen, is sympathetic to Sami rights. The musician, Ingrid, is deeply entwined with Hans’s past.

5. Sami Culture & Historical Context

• Sami Identity:
  • Not only reindeer herders; roles also include farmers, fishermen, cultural workers.
  • Sami faced historical discrimination and a complex religious evolution—blending Christianity and pre-Christian traditions.
  • Quote:
    “The Sami culture is really interesting… Hans family happens to be from a family that's always had reindeer, a very famous family actually. And he's rejected that kind of life.” (10:01)
  • Discusses Christianity’s introduction and the enduring, pantheistic beliefs of the Sami.
  • Quote:
    “There was a Christian component... Although they [were] Sami, but still kept their belief in a… More pantheistic [way].” (11:15)

6. Dam Sabotage & Environmental Conflict

• Alta Dam Reality:
  • Inspired by real events: Norwegian government’s plans for hydroelectric power at the expense of traditional lands and villages.
  • Sami activism and resistance are central to the story’s conflict.
  • Quote:
    “It would have flooded a town, a town that had been there for hundreds of years. And also the land where the reindeer were usually grazed… And the Norwegian government… had been discriminating against the Sami people for hundreds of years.” (12:34)

7. Geography and Nature Writing

• Landscape Description:
  • White’s love for the region’s wild, quiet beauty comes through in her lyrical descriptions.
  • Quote:
    “There are amazing wildflowers, delicate little white wildflowers that grow orchids that grow in the bogs. The wind is always blowing if you're on the High Vida… The rivers are full of incredible salmon.” (14:01)

8. The Mystery Unfolds

• Plot Development:
  • Sabotage at the dam is botched, someone is injured, and a dead body is found—raising questions about community, guilt, and justice.
  • Hans must unravel the intertwined threads of personal and cultural conflict.
  • Quote:
    “It becomes a complicated thread that Hans has to unravel.” (16:11)
• Role of Outsiders:
  • Incorporation of foreign farmhands (American, German) was historically accurate and added depth to the community’s dynamics.

9. History: Johann Turi and Cultural Legacy

• On Johann Turi:
  • Real-life Sami authority and wolf hunter featured in the novel.
  • Collaborated with Danish ethnographer Emilie Demant Hatt to document Sami life—Hans’s family connection in the novel.
  • Quote:
    “He was worried that his whole culture would be destroyed. And that's when he met Amelia Demont Hot… they worked on… his life and about the culture… called Turi's Book of Lapland.” (19:53)

10. Closing and Next Projects

• Next Work:
  • White is working on a biography of New Zealand artist Anna Kasselberg, but leaves the door open for Hans Sorensen’s return.
  • Host expresses hope for more mysteries starring Hans.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You describe how the sabotage is botched and someone's injured, and this is a mystery. And in addition to everything else this novel is, there's a mystery because a body is discovered.”
  — G.P. Gottlieb (15:47)

• “Hans at this point is really ambivalent in some ways about the dam. He says at one point that, you know, what's so bad about having light for the kids when they're going to school, when it's so dark in the winter.”
  — Sharon White (17:11)

• “Hans is part of this family and he's never had any interest in this great uncle until he starts to realize how deeply he's connected to this past.”
  — Sharon White (22:57)

• “The whole book I really loved... I sat down to just read a few chapters… And then… I looked up and I had finished the whole book.”
  — G.P. Gottlieb (23:47)

---

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp (MM:SS) | Segment | |-----------------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:34–04:47 | Sharon White’s background, love for Finnmark, and title | | 05:06–06:21 | Survival and outsider perspective (Catherine) | | 07:41–08:47 | Hans Sorensen’s burnout and identity | | 10:01–12:14 | Sami culture and spirituality | | 12:34–14:01 | Alta Dam conflict and environmental stakes | | 14:01–15:47 | Landscape and nature descriptions | | 16:11–17:11 | Mystery element and suspects | | 19:33–22:57 | Johann Turi’s legacy and Hans’s connection | | 23:07–23:47 | Future projects and characters |

---

Tone and Language

The conversation is reflective, warm, and rich in personal anecdotes, matching the lyrical, contemplative tone of Sharon White's novel. Both host and guest are deeply engaged with the cultural and emotional landscapes of Norway, offering listeners both factual details and an evocative sense of place.

---

Summary Takeaway

This episode offers an immersive look into If the Owl Calls, a literary mystery that is as much about belonging and landscape as it is about crime. Sharon White’s personal connection to Finnmark and her nuanced portrayal of Sami culture and environmental struggle make the conversation essential for lovers of literary fiction, cultural history, and atmospheric mysteries.

Transcript

[Marshall's Narrator]

When it comes to gifting, everyone on your list deserves something special. Luckily, Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals and amazing gifts so you don't have to. That means your mom gets that cashmere sweater, your best friend that Italian leather bag, your co workers unwrap their favorite beauty brands, and your nephews the coolest new toys. Go ahead. A price is this good, you can grab something for yourself too. Marshalls we get the deals. You gift the good stuff. Shop [e-mail] or find a store near you.

[Jack Daniels Narrator]

This episode is brought to you by Jack Daniels Jack Daniels and music are made for each other. They share a rhythm in the craft of making something timeless while being a part of legendary nights. From backyard jams to sold out arenas, there's a song in every toast. Please drink responsibly. Responsibility.org Jack Daniels and Old no. 7 are registered trademarks. Tennessee Whiskey 40% alcohol by volume Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee Limu Emu and.

[Liberty Mutual Narrator]

Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Liberty Mutual Narrator]

Cut the camera. They see us.

[Jack Daniels Narrator]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Sharon White]

Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings vary unwritten by.

[Jack Daniels Narrator]

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Massachusetts welcome to the New Books Network. Hans rubbed the tiny window with his fist. It still took his breath away, the wildness of the vida. They were not very far up, maybe 400 meters, and he could see reindeer running in a long line toward the coast. Wisps of powdery snow kicked up around their hooves and then swirled away. The low hills stretched to the horizon, clusters of dark willowbrush in the valleys of along the frozen streams. This is GP Gottlieb, host for New Books and Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. And today I'm talking to Sharon White about her new novel, if the Owl Calls, about an Oslo detective sent to the north of the country after a hydroelectric dam being built gets sabotaged and a body is discovered in a nearby ravine. This is a beautifully written mystery about identity and going home, memory and family, the environment of Norway and the Sami culture. Hi Sharon, thanks for joining me.

[Sharon White]

Hi Kali, thank you for inviting me.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

What was your impetus for setting a novel in Norway, and how did you come up with the title, if the Hour Calls?

[Sharon White]

I actually lived in Norway when I was very young and just out of college, and I Loved it. I fell in love with Finnmark, where the novel is set. And I always wanted to go back. I was there for several months, and then my life sort of swept me up into other places. And I eventually went back about. I think it was about 12 years afterwards. And I was trying to decide whether I was going to move to Finnmark, have a life there, and I decided not to because actually, in the winter, it's completely dark for several months. And even though I loved it there, I loved the person I was with. I decided I couldn't do it. So I came home and had another life.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

And where was home?

[Sharon White]

Home was actually. It was several different places. It was Denver and then Aspen and Colorado, and then I eventually was in western Massachusetts.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Okay, can you say something about the title, if the Owl Calls?

[Sharon White]

If the Owl Calls is actually. I really wanted to have a title that was set in a very, you know, in a snowy northern place. So I love this poetry. John Haynes, he's always been one of my favorite poets, and he lived in Alaska for many, many years. And he actually has a poem that. One of the lines, a piece of it is if the owl Calls. And I thought, oh, that's really wonderful. So I finally found it after several years of having really awful titles. And it worked.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Yeah, it's a lovely title. I was just expecting an owl.

[Sharon White]

An owl.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

But, yes, the novel is about many things. History, memory, identity, environment. But it feels like all of that is against the backdrop of survival. What do you think?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, I think that's a really good point. And that's what. It's sort of emotional survival and physical survival, at least for many of the characters. And it's a rough terrain in Finnmark. It's difficult to live there. Many of the characters, some of the characters, their life is connected to the land. Some are farmers, some are reindeer herders. And also for the character, the American, Catherine, she's actually been completely closed off to this. She's always wanted to be in a situation where she could feel like she was surviving in the wilderness and yet in the outdoors. And finally, she's in a place where she sees that it's not a romantic idea at all. It's a very, very difficult way to live.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Well, since you brought her up, can you explain how an American happened to be working in that area? And we're talking about the 1970s, right?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, yeah. She is part of this group of people who were part of an organization called, I think, something like Norwegian International Youth Work. There actually was an organization like that. And they placed people on different farms in Norway. So the character she's wanted always wanted to go north. Even though she's grown up in the United States, not in a northern part. She's always had this wanderlust to be in the far north. So her backstory is that she has found out about this and that's why she's there. She has to go as far north as possible in Norway and work on a farm.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

So Hans Sorensen is an interesting protagonist. Can you introduce him and talk a bit about why he's so burned out?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, Hans is. He's a detective in Oslo and his wife has died not long before the novel begins. And he felt estranged from the north. He felt like he grew up there. He grew up in Finnmark, but he wanted a different kind of life. So he's become a cop and worked his way into the position of inspector. So he's. He's really. You're right, he's burned out. He's burned out by his cases. He's burned out by how horrible he feels even many months after last year's death.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

And he is also from the Sami people, a part of it. But he doesn't live as in that culture. Can you say a bit about that?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, he has left his small town where he's grown up and wanted to have a different kind of life. His parents aren't reindeer herders, but his father is very different. He's more involved in the cultural center, and his mother has always wanted to raise sheep, so their life is a little bit different. But he's followed a cousin who moved south and has taken a really different path. But there's a case that has sent him north.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Yeah, but my question is, this is about a people that. Some of this book is about the identity of the people who live in this northern area. And Hans was one of them, but he's no longer. Can you say a bit about the culture, aside from being up north?

[Sharon White]

The Sami culture is really interesting and you actually learn a lot about this in the book. The Hans. It's not that you have to be a reindeer herder if you're part of a Sami family. There actually are a lot of people who are Saami, who actually are farmers, people, are fishermen. Hans family happens to be from a family that's always had reindeer, a very famous family, actually. And he's rejected that kind of life. Not that he had to choose it, because, as I said, his parents weren't part of. They're part of the culture, but not part of the People who actually used to. Before this time period used to actually be following their reindeer through the different seasons from.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

So part of the Sami culture was the reindeer, but was there also a religious component to it?

[Sharon White]

There is, and the religious component actually was. Was. I'm not sure how to explain this. It's sort of complicated. There was a Christian component that was introduced in, I think might have been the late 1700s. 1800s, late 1700s, where many people became part of the Christian church, although they saw me, but still kept their belief in a. More. It's a More. I don't know how to explain it. There are more gods.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

I'm not sure what you're saying.

[Sharon White]

Yeah, it's not Christian.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

More pantheistic.

[Sharon White]

Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

So moving on. Okay, Hans. Things are set in motion when Hans Sorensen is sent to check out sabotage at a construction site for a massive dam up there. Why is a dam needed? And why would anyone want to blow it up?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, this actually was a real situation. It was called the. The Alta Dam, and it did get built, but on a much smaller scale. It was for hydroelectric power. And what happened was it would have flooded a town, a town that had been there for hundreds of years. And also the land where the reindeer were usually grazed, traditionally grazed. So it was a really bad idea. And the Norwegian government for many years had been using Finnmark, that part of Norway, as sort of to do whatever projects they wanted to do or to sell the land off or they had been discriminating against the Sami people for hundreds of years, which was part of the whole religious problem that I was trying to explain.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

So although much of the story takes place in this very harsh northern climate, you find many beautiful things to describe in the book. Can you talk a bit about the geography of the area?

[Sharon White]

Yeah. It's an amazingly beautiful place. When I visited there, I was really surprised that there weren't huge, jagged mountains instead, which there are in the. If you go south in Norway, it's this beautiful sort of rolling high plateau called the Vida. And it feels very wild. There are amazing ravines and waterfalls and owls and lots of really interesting birds that spend their summer there. And it takes a while to get used to how different it is from someplace like Colorado. That's spectacular because it's spectacular in a more quiet way. There are amazing wildflowers, delicate little white wildflowers that grow orchids that grow in the bogs. The wind is always blowing if you're on the High Vida, where there's hardly any trees along the river, there's these little birch trees that are very gnarled and bent. And the rivers are full of incredible salmon, which some of the people, you know, make their life is catching the salmon, selling it. So it's a really sort of intricate and unusual landscape.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Yeah, I. I revisited Norway and we're just blown away by the stark beauty of it. You describe how the sabotage is botched and someone's injured, and this is a mystery. And in addition to everything else this novel is, there's a mystery because a body is discovered. Can you say more?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, that a body is discovered in a ravine. And it's a landscape that Hans knows well, no one knows whose body it is, but it's discovered in a ravine near the village where the two people who have sabotaged the dam live. So the cops in Oslo think that probably, and the government actually thinks that probably it's connected somehow to this village, that someone in the village has murdered whoever this is in the ravine. And so it becomes a complicated thread that Hans has to unravel.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

So he follows the trail of two women. One is a journalist and the other a musician. Without giving anything away, what can you tell us about them?

[Sharon White]

The journalist is really ambitious and she is from Bergen and she is trying to get more information from Hans. They're both staying in the same hotel in Aalto, which is near where all this takes place. And so she's trying to convince him to give her more information about the sabotage and about the reason she's very sympathetic to the saboteurs, because she believes in the rights of the Sami to have their way of life, which many people felt would be destroyed if this dam was actually built. And Hans at this point is really ambivalent in some ways about the dam. He says at one point that, you know, what's so bad about having light for the kids when they're going to school, when it's so dark in the winter. And the other woman, Ingrid, is someone who, it turns out Hans knows from when he was younger. And she too is connected to one of the people who has been trying to do something about protesting. Really?

[G.P. Gottlieb]

I know you're trying not to say anything that would give anything away. You're doing a great job.

[Sharon White]

You haven't read anything.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

There's also a young German farmhand working up there. Was it common for people from other. Or is it today even for people from other countries, from around Europe and even America to find their way that far to the north?

[Sharon White]

Yeah, as I said, there was this. During that time period, there was an organization that actually placed people on farms in the far north. So it wouldn't have been unusual for someone from Germany to end up there.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Yeah. Sorensen comes across the writings of a relative of his who, if I understood correctly, is a real life Sami authority. Can you talk about Johann Tuori's writings and legacy? Because it does come up in the book.

[Sharon White]

Yes, some of the parts of the book. Yeah. Actually, when I was in Norway, one of my friends had given me Johann Tuuri's book, and, you know, I had it. And I actually have written about this topic before in. In my poetry and a memoir that I wrote. But he was an amazing man. He was a wolf hunter. And there are some really amazing, really wonderful pictures of him posed in a studio with his dead wolf and his wolf hunting equipment. And he used to take tourists out on the Vida, the high plains to hunt. But he was really worried in the early 1900s when people were coming up, there were more tourists coming up by train to go to northern Sweden, which is where his family lived in the summer months. And then they took their herds into Norway for the winter. I'm sorry, they lived in Kiruna during the winter and then took the herds to Norway in the summer.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

That makes more sense.

[Sharon White]

Yeah, it makes more sense. I know. So he was worried that his whole culture would be destroyed. And that's when he met Amelia Demont Hot, who's also in the book, and said he wanted to write a book about his culture. And she was a Danish artist and ethnographer, and she was always interested in the Sami culture. So she and Turi actually sat down together for several months and worked on some notes that he had about his life and about the culture. And he ended up with. It's called A Couple of Different Things, but that edition was called Tori's Book of Lapland. And Emily Jamont Hot learned Sami and she translated the book into Danish, and then it was then translated into English. So Hans is part of this family and he's never had any interest in this great uncle until he starts to realize how deeply he's connected to this past.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

So, Sherrod, are we going to hear from Hans Sorensen again? Well, maybe I'll ask this question. What are you working on next? Is Hans going to show up?

[Sharon White]

He's not showing up right now because I'm working on a book about a New Zealand artist who's. Her name's Anna Kasselberg, and I lived in New Zealand for a while and got really interested in her work. So that's what I'm working on right now. It's a sort of strange biography, I guess, or my version of biography.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

It sounds super interesting, but I'm just going to put in my vote that we hear again from Hans Sorensen.

[Sharon White]

Hans Soren said, yeah, I really like Hans.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

He's a really intriguing character.

[Sharon White]

Yeah.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

The whole book I really loved. I told you beforehand, I sat down to just read a few chapters to see if I wanted to read. And then I the next thing I know, I looked up and I had finished the whole book. So I don't think I got up even for a snack. It was a little.

[Sharon White]

I'm so happy. I'm really happy that you did.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

Thank you so much for joining me today, Sharon. It's been a pleasure.

[Sharon White]

Oh, thank you so much.

[G.P. Gottlieb]

And thank you for joining me again. This is G.P. gottlieb, author of the Whipped and Sipped mystery series and host for New Books and Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. Today I've been talking to Sharon White, author of the breathtaking novel if the Owl Calls. Hope you all have something breathtaking to read today. And always happy reading.