£12.99

letters from tove

by tove jansson

Translated by Sarah Death

WINNER of the BERNARD SHAW TRANSLATION PRIZE 2021

“I find myself talking to you about all the great joys, all the agonies, all my thoughts...” - Letter to Eva Konikova, 1946

Out of the thousands of letters Tove Jansson wrote a cache remains that she addressed to her family, her dearest confidantes, and her lovers, male and female. Into these she spilled her innermost thoughts, defended her ideals and revealed her heart. To read these letters is both an act of startling intimacy and a rare privilege.

Penned with grace and humour, Letters from Tove offers an almost seamless commentary on Tove Jansson's life as it unfolds within Helsinki's bohemian circles and her island home. Spanning fifty years between her art studies and the height of Moomin fame, we share with her the bleakness of war; the hopes for love that were dashed and renewed, and her determined attempts to establish herself as an artist.

Vivid, inspiring and shining with integrity, Letters from Tove shows precisely how an aspiring and courageous young artist can evolve into a very great one.

REVIEWS

(Letters from Tove) offers readers the privilege of spending time inside an intelligent, creative, curious, generous, funny, unsentimental mind. Few books have given me as much pure pleasure this year.

 Anna Carey, The Irish Times

It’s no surprise to discover from this marvellous collection that Tove Jansson wrote such wonderful, heartfelt, interesting letters.

Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller

In Letters from Tove there are treasures aplenty – cultural history gems as well as biographical revelations, all related in a voice that’s funny, gracious, intimate.

Hephzibah Anderson, The Guardian

Reading these letters, you will gradually fall under the illusion that they are addressed to you. This is how inviting, candid, and quietly dazzling Tove Jansson’s prose is in her correspondence. Letters from Tove is a fundamental addition to Jansson’s oeuvre. At the end of the book, you will feel that you have a new, very close friend.

Hernan Diaz, author of In the Distance