The true deceiver - Tove Jansson

A New York Review Books Original

Winner of the Best Translated Book Award

Deception-the lies we tell ourselves and the lies
we tell others-is the subject of this, Tove Jansson's most unnerving and unpredictable
novel. Here Jansson takes a darker look at the subjects that animate the best of
her work, from her sensitive tale of island life, The Summer Book, to her famous
Moomin stories: solitude and community, art and life, love and hate.

Snow has been
falling on the village all winter long. It covers windows and piles up in front of
doors. The sun rises late and sets early, and even during the day there is little
to do but trade tales. This year everybody's talking about Katri Kling and Anna Aemelin.
Katri is a yellow-eyed outcast who lives with her simpleminded brother and a dog
she refuses to name. She has no use for the white lies that smooth social intercourse,
and she can see straight to the core of any problem. Anna, an elderly children's
book illustrator, appears to be Katri's opposite: a respected member of the village,
if an aloof one. Anna lives in a large empty house, venturing out in the spring to
paint exquisitely detailed forest scenes. But Anna has something Katri wants, and
to get it Katri will take control of Anna's life and livelihood. By the time spring
arrives, the two women are caught in a conflict of ideals that threatens to strip
them of their most cherished illusions.