The Human Part

Salme Malmikunnas used to sell knitting yarn and never touches novels, which in her view are lies. Dragged to a book fair by her daughter, she meets an author whose ideas have dried up, and he makes her an offer: 7,000 euros if she will tell him everything about her life for his next book. She accepts, because she needs the money for something she prefers to keep quiet. What she relates, in her own way, is mostly about her children: a silent husband, a daughter struck by misfortune, a daughter married to a newcomer from abroad, a son thriving in sales. Other voices join in, a burnt-out daughter, a son out of work, a man convicted of running down a schoolgirl. Will the writer stick to the deal, and is Salme telling the truth?

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

276 pages in the original

Genres

Family, Satire (assigned by AI)

Set in

Finland

First published

2009 by Siltala

Author's age

52 when first published

ISBN

9789522340214 (original)

9780857050656 (MacLehose Press, United Kingdom)

9780857051066 (MacLehose Press, United Kingdom)

More

Wikidata