Sculptor’s Daughter

Review

This book is Tove Jansson’s autobiography. The same Tove Jansson who wrote and created Moomin characters. I had originally planned to read this during the biography month at TCS’ Biblio Group. But it wasn’t available then. So I had read The Elements of Marie Curie instead.

Moomin are everywhere in Finland. From cookies, to clothes, to the original stories, and books, to mugs and I guess there are toothpastes too? When Savya had turned two we had sent with him a packet of Fazer-Moomin chocolates. We have gone to at least a couple of Moomin exhibitions - one at Stockmann and the other at Oodi. We have bought and gifted Moomin cookies and bags and onesies to our friends and their kids.

This is not a typical biography. There are no historical facts here. These are stories written by Tove - translated in English. And they are wonderful. The ones I have read are from a time when Tove was a young child, and it’s so much fun reading about experiences different from what I had when I was a child. It’s so beautiful, this thing, diversity.

If you are looking for a typical biography (or autobiography) this is not that. If you’re interested in reading about childhood and a Finnish-Swedish child’s experiences growing up, give it a read.