Gunnel Linde (1924–2014)

Two young people meet and become friends, exchanging a series of dares in order to win the privilege of holding on to a beautiful, smooth, pure white stone in this children's novel from Sweden. Fia and Hampus, who call themselves Fideli and Prince Perilous in their make-believe games, are each outsiders in their small village, Fia because the other children taunt her for being the piano teacher's daughter, and Hampus because he is a newcomer, the nephew of a poor shoemaker who often moves show more around. Entering into a world of their own, the pair carry out various tasks—painting a face on the church clock tower, staying silent for a day, leading the circus elephant to the schoolteacher's house, playing piano in public—becoming ever closer. But when one of the dares goes terribly wrong, and the children believe they will be severely punished and perhaps separated, they make a terrible choice...

Originally published in Sweden in 1964 as Den vita stenen, and then translated into English by Richard and Clara Winston in 1966, The White Stone is the first book I have read from Gunnel Linde, although I have been aware of her work for some time. The copy I read was illustrated by Imero Gobbato, and had a lovely cover. I found the book engaging, and entered into the children's imaginative play with interest. One of my favorite books of all time, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Changeling, centers around two children and their imaginative world, and I myself had an imaginary kingdom, with its own made-up language and writing system, when I was a girl, so I was predisposed to sympathize with the story idea here, and with the characters. On the whole I did, although I found that the narrative, despite addressing the experiences of two outsiders, didn't evoke as strong of an emotional response as I expected it to do. I also found the conclusion of the book somewhat unsatisfying, on two scores. First, given the lack of emotional connection I felt, and the fact that the narrative seemed for the most part to run along happily on the surface, I found the introduction of suicide quite unexpected and incongruous. The book reads like a happy tale of dares and friendship, and then suddenly there are poison mushrooms, which the children actually swallow, in an apparent suicide pact. This just came out of left field for me, and felt jarring. It's possible that, owing to issues of translation, the deeper emotional undercurrents of the story didn't make it through to me, but as read, the story just didn't seem to support this development. Happily, this action proves unsuccessful, although the resolution, in which they explain everything to the judge, was the second unsatisfactory element, as I wanted them to describe their actions and motivations more fully, and make him understand. Perhaps we are meant to think that their experiences are too private to be understood, but there was more than a whiff of that 1960s "don't trust anyone over 30" feeling here, the idea that grownups just can't understand, that felt silly to me.

In any case, while these elements didn't ruin the book for me, they did make it less powerful and enchanting than it might have been. Perhaps it is an issue of translation, as some readers describe this as a childhood favorite. Leaving my criticisms aside, I do recommend this one, as an interesting story of children and their imaginary world. show less

Teenage angst or the bite of a rabid neighbor? Something is making Ulf throw anger tantrums and alienating his family and friends, at least until he finds a brother-in-arms. This classic Gunnel Linde YA novel holds up very well and would still be appropriate for a younger YA reader. For an adult reader, it's an amusing look at Swedish schools and neighborhoods, all the way down to the Finnish neighbors.

Two outsider children who live across the street from one another become friends and set contests for each other, the prize for which feats is the trading back and forth of a lovely white stone.
Meh, this one had potential, but didn't deliver like it could have. To be fair, it could be a problem of poor translation (the original is Swedish).

Den Vita Stenen was one of my favourite programmes as a child. So, it was almost a mandatory thing to read the book once I came across a copy of it. And I loved it. Linde's writing was excellent and I remembered all the things from the programme and it was lovely to read. I had a bad case of nostalgia!