Product Description

What mattered most to Tove Jansson, she explained in her eighties, was work and love, a sentiment she echoes in this tender and original novel. Translated for the first time into English, Fair Play portrays a love between two older women, a writer and artist, as they work side-by-side in their Helsinki studios, travel together and share summers on a remote island. In the generosity and respect they show each other and the many small shifts they make to accommodate each other’s creativity we are shown a relationship both heartening and truly progressive. “so what can happen when Tove Jansson turns her attention to her own favourite subjects, love and work, in the form of this novel about two women, lifelong partners and friends? Expect something philosophically calm – and discreetly radical. At first sight it looks autobiographical. Like everything Jansson wrote, it’s much more than it seems . . .Fair Play is very fine art . ” (Ali Smith from the introduction to Fair Play) Praise for A Winter Book‘Another charming, treasurable book by the author of the Mooomin stories…simple and light in style, yet somehow profound.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘The Winter Book is a magical read and will become a faithful friend’ The Scotsman‘We should be grateful that Jansson’s work is back in print.’ The Observer ‘Quietly beautiful and elegantly precise’ Daily Mail

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5683 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Telegraph Review, 23 June 2007
'Jansson's prose is wondrous: it is clean, deliberate; an
aesthetic so certain of itself it's breathtaking.'

About the Author
The writer and artist Tove Jansson is best known as the creator of the Moomin stories, which have been published in thirty-five languages. Fair Play, written when she was 75 years old, was one of ten novels that she wrote for adults. This is the first time it has been published in English.

Customer Reviews

Both profound and simple
At first glance Tove Jannson's Fair Play is simply a collection of stories about two female artists living together in their old age. It is semi-autobiographical, with Tove being the fictional Marie, and her lifelong partner, graphic designer Tuulikka Pietelä, being Johanna. Tove is of course the author and creator of the Moomin series of childrens' books, which spawned a large number of television programmes popular in the 1970s and 80s, and to this day.

Marie and Johanna divide their time between a large apartment in Helsinki and a tiny island of the coast of southern Finland, across the channel from Estonia. Both women have a strong commitment to their work, and while living as partners, they also create plenty of personal space for their artistic preparation and reflection.

As in Tove's books, The Summer Book and A Winter Book, on the face of it, nothing much happens. However it is in the minutiae of their daily life together that forms the real core of the book and if there is a message at all, it is about making the most of each moment of the day, and appreciating everything that is around you - this almost Buddhist message comes across strongly in these simple stories.

The two women generally get along and share much of their lives together, but they also argue, they get jealous, and they often irritate each other. On the other hand, they both understand the rhythms of each other's lives, and they both understand the creative process and its tensions.

The forward by Ali Smith offers useful scene-setting, and I think I agree with her that this is "a novel with a profound sense of discretion at its core" - a lot isn't said, and a lot of conversation between these women doesn't need to be said out loud. They understand each other and realise that sometimes when up against a brick wall, you don't have to keep battering your head against it, but can simply walk around the side of it.

I can't say this is a great work of literature, but I do know that sometimes it is good to read the words of people like Tove Jannson who lived the life they were meant to live with uncompromising artistic integrity.

simplistic beauty
As with her previously translated adult books,The Summer Book and The Winter Book, Jansson manages to capture a world of emotion and understanding with the most minimal use of language. Indeed the book is very short,a collection of connected vignettes about two aging women living and growing old together. As usual the themes of age, rebellion and communication are clearly defined, but what makes Jansson a master of storytelling is her ability to say the obvious when least expected and avoid it when it feels inevitable. Thus allowing the reader to follow the subtext and relate to those situations in life where we already know what the conversation will be about, what will be said, what avoided. Not only does this feel like slices of real life it also manages to be a warm heartfelt and honest piece of work. Who needs pages of description when Jannson's characters can create an entire world in the most succinct of ways.

Another delight
Another simple but profound piece of writing from Tove. This was the perfect holiday read for me over a week. Gentle tales about gentle people living their lives. Uncompromising in many ways. So much is left unsaid and for your imagination. Like with a best friend you don't have to say everything as they already know what your thinking. If you are looking for a book which is action packed then this isn't for you but if you want something about art, life and friendship with humour then.....