Fantasy and reality are intertwined when Snow White’s daughter travels into her mother’s and grandmother’s past.
Author: Annastiina Storm
Finnish original: Kerro, kerro
Publisher: S&S, 2019
Genre: literary fiction
Number of pages: c. 200 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample, English synopsis
Aliisa sets off to explore her late mother’s hidden past and travels to the strange village of Gorge where Snow White spent her youth. She is guided by the stories told by her mother, the eccentric inhabitants of Gorge and her own imagination.
The journey takes Aliisa to a cave quarried by dwarves and she finds herself combing out the hair of a washed-out queen. She also ends up in a landscape with an ominous air of envy and jealousy.
Coming face to face with her family’s past makes Aliisa confront her fear of loss. She tries to accept the facts by rewriting her history by means of fiction.
The novel about a mother and a daughter combines realism with absurdity. Its themes cover love, fears, the difficulty of letting go, writing and story-telling, and creating your own story.
Annastiina Storm’s first novel, We Are Filled with Light (Me täytytään valosta) was acclaimed by critics and was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize in 2017.
“This is a splendid novel that sparkles with light despite all the tears and pain.”
– Author Helmi Kekkonen on We are Filled with Light in her blog Sivulauseita
“This novel offers plenty of scope for empathy with its clear language, its universal themes and controlled rhythm and should enjoy a large readership.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
“We Are Filled with Light is an impressive first novel. (…) Different types of narration are united into an effective whole, and the style remains strong and coherent throughout.”
– Tekstiluola blog
Also available:
We Are Filled With Light (2017)
About the author:
Annastiina Storm