Sirpa Kähkönen

One day in June 1942: it's a big day at the restaurant, but different members of the staff have their own worries and concerns that threaten the success of the night. Charlotta, after losing her mother, is still looking for her father. The Belgian journalist visiting the town meets various characters during the day but concludes she cannot really understand them or their country. I enjoyed this, as I have done the previous novels in the series.

Women's lives in the summer of 1940 - the winter war is over and some of the men are back but going back to their ordinary lives is not that simple. I adore the writing - the dialect isn't mine and not one that I'd like to hear but the flow of the text is wonderful.

It's the summer of 1943 and the women and children have been spending it on an island in the summer house. The older children worry about their future and snippets from newspapers about the wartime atrocities are colouring their thoughts and what they play.

It's the 1920s and Anna moves from the sticks to Kuopio, a busy town. Her married sister is living there already and has found her a job as a maid with a middle-aged couple. Eventually she marries Lassi, a dark-eyed man with history because of his leftist opinions and prison sentence following the civil war (unfortunately, I've forgotten the exact details). I really enjoyed reading this book, I was listening to the writer telling about her books (this one is the first in a series of three) show more about a year, and wanted to read this book ever since. show less