Beautifully crafted and deceptively simple-seeming, these stories are like pieces of scattered light.
Ali Smith These stories show a side of (Tove Jansson) that may be new to some British readers, who perhaps think of her, if at all, as a writer of charming stories for children. They are as tough as good rope, these stories, as smooth and ... Read moreodd and beautiful as sea-worn driftwood, as full of light and air and wind as the Nordic summer. We are lucky to have them collected at last.
Philip Pullman These stories are infused with such a strong sense of Tove Jansson's character that by the last page you feel on almost intimate terms with her. Determined, indignant, fearless as a child, we see how she develops - have the luxury of glimpsing her as an old lady too, still determined, still indignant.
Esther Freud Meeting the real Tove in these stories has been a an exciting and unnerving experience - a bit like meeting my own guardian angel.
Frank Cottrell Boyce Show Less