The Woman Who Borrowed Memories: Selected Stories

An NYRB Classics Original

Tove Jansson was a master of brevity, unfolding worlds at a touch. Her art flourished in small settings, as can be seen in her bestselling novel The Summer Book and in her internationally celebrated cartoon strips and books about the Moomins. It is only natural, then, that throughout her life she turned again and again to the short story. The Woman Who Borrowed Memories is the first extensive selection of Jansson's stories to appear in English.

Many of the stories collected here are pure Jansson, touching on island solitude and the dangerous pull of the artistic impulse: in "The Squirrel" the equanimity of the only inhabitant of a remote island is thrown by a visitor, in "The Summer Child" an unlovable boy is marooned along with his lively host family, in "The Cartoonist" an artist takes over a comic strip that has run for decades, and in "The Doll's House" a man's hobby threatens to overwhelm his life. Others explore unexpected territory: "Shopping" has a post-apocalyptic setting, "The Locomotive" centers on a railway-obsessed loner with murderous fantasies, and "The Woman Who Borrowed Memories" presents a case of disturbing transference. Unsentimental, yet always humane, Jansson's stories complement and enlarge our understanding of a singular figure in world literature.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Published: 10/21/2014
ISBN: 9781590177662
Pages: 283
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 8.99h x 3.98w x 0.67d
Award: Best Translated Book Award - Finalist

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2014
Publishers Weekly 10/20/2014
Shelf Awareness 10/31/2014
Booklist 11/01/2014 pg. 24
Kirkus Best Fiction 11/15/2014 pg. 26