shashasha

Inspired by the short documentary Haru, yksinäisten saari (Haru, the Island of the Solitary) from 1998, Takashi Homma (b. 1962, Japanese) traveled from his hometown of Tokyo, the most populous metropolitan area in the world, to the remote island of Klovharun, located in the Pellinki archipelago, Finland. There he documented the primitive island and its single cabin where Swedish-speaking Finnish novelist Tove Jansson (author of the Moomin book series for children) and her life companion, Finnish illustrator Tuulikki Pietilä, spent nearly a quarter century of summers together.

Through Homma’s ever-curious lens, and with his partiality and liberality for architecture and places, one witnesses the evocative solitude and humble living of the hidden Scandinavian archipelagos, its cultural heritage and the significance an authors writings and characters can have in lives of all ages.

This book pays homage to late author Tove Jansson (1914-2001). All texts are written by Tove Jansson, taken from The Summer Book, first published in 1972. The Summer Book consists of twenty-two chapters in which each chapter is a standalone story. A song for windows gives special importance to one quote from each chapter and is numbered accordingly.

© 1972 Tove Jansson, Moomin Characters™

― Statement from publisher

• Orders from within Japan include a Japanese translation leaflet of Tove Jansson quotes used in the book