True
True
by Riikka Pulkkinen
translated from the Finnish by Lola Rogers
published by Other Press, US; Scribe, Australia
by the author of The Limit
Three generations intertwine as a young storyteller tries to make sense of the losses in her own life by reconstructing the life of a woman from her family’s past. Told with an almost meticulous attention to psychological verisimilitude, True is an exploration of the imaginative origins of story and the malleability of remembered reality. It is about love and death. It is more mysterious than meets the eye.
Available from numerous vendors through Other Press and Scribe Publications, or at your neighborhood bookstore.
Reviews of True:
“Maybe the recent flurry of genre fiction from Scandinavia has sparked an interest in translations of its literary fiction as well. Or maybe this prize-winning Finnish novel was simply too good to pass up… the story is made fresh by its complex play of past and present and richly rendered characterizations… A beautiful, sensuous novel.” – Library Journal
“In Finnish author Pulkkinen’s first novel to be translated into English, a dying woman and her family become a prism illuminating love from a variety of often-uncomfortable angles… The emotional intelligence of the prose avoids melodrama to develop authentic poignancy.” – Kirkus (starred review)
“True is a psychological drama that explores memory and forgetting, the mind’s desire to select and bend reality… Riikka Pulkkinen, a celebrated, young, Finnish author, depicts the three generations story with skill and exceptional maturity.” – Elliott Bay Books
“True is a beautiful novel about motherhood, longing and loss. It’s a dreamingly languid book full of gentle reveals, and it is extremely compelling.” – Freya Dumas, Lip Magazine
“The smallest gestures amplify the past’s echoes, shifting characters from reality to profound introspective journeys that end with a realization rather than a conversation. Readers will find themselves captivated by something sublime existing somewhere between apologia and apology… Beautifully translated by Lola M. Rogers to capture the full chill of a Finnish winter and the lightness of its spring.” – Joseph Thompson, Foreword Reviews
A Shelf Unbound Top Ten Book of 2012
A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book
Cover design by Aino-Maija Metsola