The Summer Book
An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend the summer together on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. They wander the island, having philosophical conversations of all kinds, talking about death, or how best to dive into water. They fight. They curse. They have adventures, building things and breaking into the new summer house on a neighbouring island, outraged that the businessman who built it doesn’t leave the door open. Written with clarity, brusque humour and wisdom, The Summer book is a fresh, vivid and magical novel about seemingly endless summers of discovery.
info
Year of publication
1972
Original title
Sommarboken
Page count
160
Original publisher
Förlaget
Reviews
Esther Freud
"Eccentric, funny, wise, full of joys and small adventures. This is a book for life."
Vi Läser Magazine
"One of the finest depictions we know of heartfelt friendship that goes across generational boundaries."
Dagens Nyheter
"There couldn’t be a more perfect summer than on the island in the Gulf of Finland where little Sofia lives and works with her laconic father, and her more lively and slightly eccentric grandmother. This is a great little book that you should definitely read at least once every summer."
Elizabeth Gilbert, The New York Times
"Absent of sentimentality, full of love and humor and wisdom, this is a tale about how much fun two people can have in the middle of nowhere, when they are practicing social isolation in earnest."
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