Ingen saknad, ingen sorg

December 1897, at Koivuniemi in Sipoo. The household's daily round sets the old Zacharias Topelius remembering: his childhood and youth, his first love, his dead wife and the three daughters whose futures worry him, together with thoughts on age, belief and the weight of being the nation's storyteller. Through his daughter Toini and her friend Alta, the book shows a man who backed schooling for girls but not the vote for women, and who must see Toini anew when she proves to be the pseudonymous young poet whose submissions he had kindly critiqued. In a closing section the author steps forward as a literary historian, describing how the sources drew her into the family's silences.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Length

198 pages in the original

Genres

Historical, Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

Finland, 1897

First published

2009 by Söderströms

Author's age

64 when first published

ISBN

9789515225931 (original)