Newmag Presents Latvian Contemporary Author Dace Vīgante’s Novella "The Frozen Ocean" (Trailer)

What happens when silence is passed down from generation to generation? Dace Vīgante attempt to explore this in her novella "The Frozen Ocean."

When there is a tragedy in a family’s history that no one talks about, that silence can be inherited by an entire generation and passed on to the next ones. The unlived, unspoken, and unhealed pain of the past continues to live on in the subsequent stories of the family.

Latvian contemporary writer Dace Vīgante’s novel "The Frozen Ocean" is the story of three generations of women: a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. Their fates are intertwined with a historical tragedy, the consequences of which do not end even decades later.

The year is 1978. Mara daily visits her mother, Irma, who lives in a nursing home. Near the end of her life, Irma begins to return to the past, remembering what she had spent years trying to forget: the Soviet repressions of 1949, exile in Siberia, lost love, a fractured family, and a sense of guilt that never leaves her.

In Vīgante’s novel, historical events are not merely a backdrop. They penetrate into people’s personal lives, alter their relationships, and shape their silences and fears. Historical tragedy continues to live within a person, even long after the events that caused it have passed.

"The Frozen Ocean" is also about family memory. What happens when the pain of the past is passed from one generation to another? Is it possible to overcome childhood traumas and repair the broken link between generations?

Dr. Bārbala Simsone, Doctor of Philological Sciences, says of the book:

"This story is about three generations of women separated and united by the cruelest century in human history. It takes great courage to break the frozen ocean, and that is precisely what Vīgante writes about."

According to the author, her own family history also lies at the foundation of the novel: "These are my grandparents, and in this photo, my mother and grandmother after 16 years of separation. On June 14, 1941, they were taken away toward the unknown, bound east. My grandfather was shot in 1942 in Solikamsk prison.

My grandmother returned after long years of suffering in the tundra of Dorofyevka and settlements in Siberia. Those who are in this photograph might continue to live in each other’s memories, as well as in the characters of my novella 'The Frozen Ocean'."

It is this personal memory that gives the novel its special power. "The Frozen Ocean" is not just a story about the past; it is about the ongoing struggle within a person, about how what goes unspoken becomes family memory, and memory becomes the inheritance of the next generation.

Vīgante is a prominent contemporary Latvian writer. She graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Latvia and worked in the legal field for many years before devoting herself entirely to literature.

Vīgante entered the literary world in 2015. Her first story collection, "Ice Orange" (Ledus apelsīns), was nominated for the Latvian Literature Award for best debut. Her short stories have been translated into English, Lithuanian, Chinese, Estonian, and German. She currently leads creative prose writing workshops at the Literary Academy and is a member of the Latvian Writers' Union.

The book was translated from Latvian by Naira Khachatryan. Main partner: Cinema Star Armenia.

The presentation of "The Frozen Ocean" will take place at Yerevan BookFest 2026. During the festival days, the book will be sold at a 30% discount.