A Winter Book by Tove Jansson

Better known as the creator and writer of the Moomin stories, Tove Jansson also wove stories around a lifetime of summers spent on her beloved island home, nestled deep in the Finnish archipelago, off the coast of Helsinki. A few years ago, these were lovingly reissued as The Summer Book - a beautiful and haunting collection of thematically linked short stories - and now more recently, A Winter Book, which sadly doesn't bare out the comparison.

Sure there are some quirky and offbeat moments to be had - a child discovers a rock made of silver and tries to take it home with her only to have it explode into a thousand fragments at the last minute; a woman declares war on her island's only other living inhabitant: a squirrel with attitude; a traveller with a phobia about other people fails to read the small print on her ticket reservation and winds up sharing a cabin with an overly friendly businessman - but unlike The Summer Book, these moments fail to come together into a satisfying whole. I found myself reading it out of affection for the earlier book rather than any real enthusiasm which is a shame.

Jansson has an unusual voice, one which is genuinely entertaining and captures the Baltic sense of humour well. Read the early Moomin stories if you don't believe me. The Summer Book is simply lovely, perhaps best enjoyed as the end of summer skirts into view. A Winter Book has its place, but check out the earlier recommendations first.

Mr Mudd