[{"id":270254801063,"handle":"all","title":"All","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:16-05:00","body_html":null,"published_at":"2021-06-25T11:34:27-05:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"variant_inventory","relation":"greater_than","condition":"-10000"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":270253981863,"handle":"finland","title":"Finland","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:15-05:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2021-06-25T11:14:48-05:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"finland"}],"published_scope":"web","image":{"created_at":"2021-09-20T16:30:59-05:00","alt":null,"width":1920,"height":1280,"src":"\/\/skandisk.com\/cdn\/shop\/collections\/maria-vojtovicova-YERR3IV6ay4-unsplash.jpg?v=1632173460"}},{"id":278198780071,"handle":"cover-hardcover","title":"Hardcover","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:15-05:00","body_html":null,"published_at":"2021-09-28T14:07:12-05:00","sort_order":"alpha-asc","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"cover-hardcover"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":271675031719,"handle":"newest-arrivals","title":"New Arrivals","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:16-05:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2021-07-12T11:43:37-05:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"New Arrivals"}],"published_scope":"web","image":{"created_at":"2022-01-31T14:47:19-06:00","alt":null,"width":2400,"height":1602,"src":"\/\/skandisk.com\/cdn\/shop\/collections\/new-Arrival_96a.jpg?v=1712162647"}},{"id":268978880679,"handle":"scandinavian","title":"Scandinavian","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:16-05:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2021-06-08T09:34:54-05:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"scandinavian"}],"published_scope":"web","image":{"created_at":"2021-10-08T11:03:59-05:00","alt":null,"width":1920,"height":1332,"src":"\/\/skandisk.com\/cdn\/shop\/collections\/ferhat-deniz-fors-tVqQSfXQ_SI-unsplash_d6e07c05-8210-4e98-ac33-247479becb9f.jpg?v=1633709040"}},{"id":278012461223,"handle":"top-authors","title":"Top Authors","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:15-05:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2021-09-25T21:30:49-05:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Jan Brett"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"H. C. Andersen"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Astrid Lindgren"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Flicka Ricka Dicka"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Moomin"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Backman"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"D'Aulaire"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Elsa Beskow"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":268982648999,"handle":"moomintrolls","title":"Tove Jansson","updated_at":"2024-04-26T20:55:15-05:00","body_html":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cimg style=\"float: left;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0566\/5226\/7687\/files\/Tove_Jansson_w.moomins_240x240.jpg?v=1632434235\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTove Jansson (1914 – 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She was born in Helsinki, then in the Grand Duchy of Finland, a part of the Russian Empire. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Stockholm, Helsinki and Paris. Her first solo art exhibition was in 1943. At the same time, she was writing short stories and articles for publication. She continued to work as an artist and a writer for the rest of her life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books. Jansson created the Moomins, a family of trolls who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eJansson wrote the Moomin books for children, starting in 1945 with \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Moomins and the Great Flood\u003c\/i\u003e. The book was not a success, but the next two installments in the Moomin series, \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eComet in Moominland\u003c\/i\u003e (1946) and \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFinn Family Moomintroll\u003c\/i\u003e (1948), brought Jansson some fame. For her work as a children’s writer she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Moomins were strongly inspired by Jansson’s own family – they were bohemian and lived close to nature. Jansson remained close to her mother until her mother’s death in 1970; even after Tove had become an adult, the two often traveled together.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eMoominpappa and Moominmamma are often seen as portraits of Jansson’s parents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn addition to the Moomin novels and short stories, Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and popular picture books: \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My\u003c\/i\u003e (1952), \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWho will Comfort Toffle?\u003c\/i\u003e (1960), \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Dangerous Journey\u003c\/i\u003e (1977) and \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAn Unwanted Guest\u003c\/i\u003e (1980).\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eAfter \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMoominvalley in November,\u003c\/i\u003e Tove Jansson stopped writing about Moomins and started writing for adults. She wrote five novels and five collections of short stories. \u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Summer Book\u003c\/i\u003e is the best known of her adult fiction translated into English.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAlthough she was known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eShe painted her whole life, and displayed a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 1930s and early 1940s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn 1956 Jansson met her lifelong partner, Tuulikki Pietilä – or “Tooti”, as she was known. In Helsinki they lived separately, in neighbouring blocks, visiting each other privately through an attic passageway. In the 1960s, they built a house on a tiny uninhabited island in the Gulf of Finland, where they would escape for the summer.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eJansson died on 27 June 2001 at the age of 86.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2021-06-08T10:26:47-05:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Moomintrolls"},{"column":"title","relation":"contains","condition":"Moomin"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"moomin"},{"column":"title","relation":"contains","condition":"moomin"},{"column":"title","relation":"contains","condition":"Moomintroll"}],"published_scope":"web"}]
An in-depth, perceptive account of the unconventional life of the Moomins’ beloved creator, now available in the United States
Tove Jansson achieved fame as the creator of the Moomins, yet remarkably, the Moomins were only part of the prodigious creative output of this Finnish-Swedish writer and artist. Weaving together the many threads of her rich, complex life, Boel Westin relies on numerous conversations with Jansson and unprecedented access to her journals, letters, and personal archives to present an engrossing and comprehensive review of the life and world of Scandinavia’s best-loved author.
Hardcover. 528 pages. 162 b&w photos, 21 color plates
