Vesta-Linnéa’s Darkest Thoughts

After a fight with her siblings, Vesta-Linnéa hides at her favourite place by the sea. It’s a sunny summer’s day but Vesta-Linnéa’s thoughts are dark…

Vesta-Linnéa likes to play at the summer cottage with her younger little sister Freja. Freja is sweet and agrees to everything. She also has nothing against Vesta-Linnéa being the Princess of the Playhouse. Freja thinks it’s fun to just play as a dog. Their sister Wendla would also like to play, but she would also like to be a princess. Now for Vesta-Linnéa, that’s not possible of course!

A fight ensues, and Vesta-Linnéa goes sulking on her own spot on the beach where she begins to think dark thoughts. She feels unloved and less important than the other children in the family. She is not the oldest and not the baby. Not even mum cares about her, she knows it! “I’m always the loneliest,” she thinks. “They wouldn’t even miss me if I died!”

But the smell of grilled food drifts to the shore, and gradually Vesta-Linnéa finds a solution and invents a game for everyone. The evening is crowned by a shared moment of swimming together with her mum.

The fourth book about Vesta-Linnéa, Appelgren beautifully handles the subject of feeling alone and unloved. The author perfectly describes the child’s emotions and also how feelings eventually turn, with Salla Savolainen’s charming illustrations depicting the summer story.