A New York Review Books Original
Winner of the Best Translated Book Award
Deception--the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we tell others--is
the subject of this, Tove Jansson's most unnerving and unpredictable
novel. Here Jansson takes a darker look at the subjects that animate the
best of her work, from her sensitive tale of island life, The Summer
Book, to her famous Moomin stories: solitude and community, art and
life, love and hate.
Snow has been falling on the village all winter long. It covers windows
and piles up in front of doors. The sun rises late and sets early, and
even during the day there is little to do but trade tales. This year
everybody's talking about Katri Kling and Anna Aemelin. Katri is a
yellow-eyed outcast who lives with her simpleminded brother and a dog
she refuses to name. She has no use for the white lies that smooth
social intercourse, and she can see straight to the core of any problem.
Anna, an elderly children's book illustrator, appears to be Katri's
opposite: a respected member of the village, if an aloof one. Anna lives
in a large empty house, venturing out in the spring to paint exquisitely
detailed forest scenes. But Anna has something Katri wants, and to get
it Katri will take control of Anna's life and livelihood. By the time
spring arrives, the two women are caught in a conflict of ideals that
threatens to strip them of their most cherished illusions.
