Tove Jansson

La fille du sculpteur

Sculptor’s Daughter

February 18, 2021

Novel

176 pages

128 × 190 mm

18 €

978-2-9248-9886-4

Translated from the Swedish by Catherine Renaud

A book of dreams and magic, very close to the spirit of the Moomins.
A jewel to rediscover absolutely.

Sculptor‘s Daughter recounts a childhood lived like a dream, inspired by Tove Jansson’s, at the beginning of the 20^th century, between Helsinki and the family home on an island in the Porvoo archipelago, where her artist parents retired for the summer. In this eminently dreamlike book, human beings suddenly begin to fly, imaginary and mysterious creatures appear at the turn of certain creeks, and God the father himself watches over the children playing in the garden.

Sculptor‘s Daughter, translated entirely into French for the first time, is a superb achievement of intelligence and poetry.

The whole world is breathtaking.

The author

Known throughout the world for her early work and in particular her famous Moomins, the Swedish-speaking Finn Tove Jansson (1914-2001) created a literary work of exceptional quality. Author, painter, illustrator and feminist, Tove Jansson is one of the great world female figures of the 20^th century.

Extracts

“When the log-fire is alight we draw up the big chair. We turn out the lights in the studio and sit in front of the fire and she says: once upon a time there was a little girl who was terribly pretty and her mummy liked her so awfully much… Every story has to begin in the same way, then it’s not so important what happens. A soft, gentle voice in the warm darkness and one gazes into the fire and nothing is dangerous. Everything else is outside and can’t get in. Not now or at any time.”