With a beautiful new afterword by Sophia Jansson, Toves niece and the inspiration behind the child Sophia. She describes returning alone to Toves summer island at the cusp of becoming a grandmother herself. Fact & fiction mingle in this circle of time.

An elderly artist and her six-year-old grand-daughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. As the two learn to adjust to each others fears, whims and yearnings, a fierce yet understated love emerges one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the very island itself.

Written in a clear, unsentimental style, full of brusque humour, and wisdom, The Summer Book is a profoundly life-affirming story. Tove Jansson captured much of her own life and spirit in the book, which was her favourite of her adult novels. This new edition, with a foreword by Esther Freud, sees the return of a European literary gem fresh, authentic and deeply humane.