Tove Jansson

Two women, a writer and artist, work side-by-side in their Helsinki studios. They have loved and argued for decades, as they travel together and share summers on a remote island. Yet no matter how many times they've played the game, it is always capable of surprising them.

In the bitter winds of autumn 1963, Tove Jansson, helped by Brunstroem, a maverick fisherman, raced to build a cabin on a treeless skerry in the Gulf of Finland. The island was Klovharun, and for thirty summers Tove and her beloved partner, the graphic artist, Tuulikki Pietila, retreated there to live, paint and write, energised by the solitude and shifting seascapes. Notes from an Island, published in English for the first time, is both a chronicle of this period and a homage to the mature love that Tove and 'Tooti' shared for their island and for each other. Tove's spare prose, and Tuulikki's subtle washes and aquatints combine to form a work of meditative beauty. '... Tooti wandered aimlessly around the island and stood stock still for long periods. I thought I knew what she was doing. She was working again. Copperplate etchings and wash drawings. Mostly the lagoon, the lagoon as a consummate mirror for clouds and birds, the lagoon in a storm, in fog. And the granite, first and foremost, the granite, the cliff, the rocks. It's all peace and quiet now.'

Tove Jansson's first memoir captures afresh the enchantments and fears of her Helsinki childhood. Restored to its original form, Sculptor's Daughter gives us a glimpse of the mysteries of winter ice, the bonhomie of balalaika parties, and the vastness of Christmas viewed from beneath the tree.

A series of short stories about a young girl and her grandmother, set on a tiny island off the coast of Finland. The stories are semi-biographical and the island is real, - Tove Jansson's family still use it in the summer.

This is a collection of some of the author’s favourite stories. From youth onwards and spanning the 20th century, the book is filled with home truths and insights.