Thanks to 7Jane of Finland and Jim of New Hampshire who recommended Finnish authors and works to me.Ī daring thought was taking shape in her mind. The visiting artist is a master puppet-maker and he shows the woman artist how to improve the life-like look of her cartoon characters hands.Ī delightful read. A couple of other characters are encountered in their travels to Mexico and Phoenix. It sound idyllic but it is within air space used by the Russians for bombing practice in the ocean! In the whole short book, only a few other characters are introduced, all briefly – an art intern, a visiting, elderly male artist and one woman’s brother. The two women also share a summertime cottage on a small harbor island – theirs is the only cottage on the island. There is an occasional spat of jealousy when one artist starts spending too much time with a young female intern and a crisis when one has the opportunity to move to Paris for a year to work on an art project. They occasionally get “piqued’ with each other and may not speak for a day or two but that is about all. There is no talk of their physical relationship in the book.

They have a lovely, supportive relationship, helping each other with their art and occasionally daring to critique each other’s work. The spatial arrangements reflect separation yet togetherness of being apart yet coming together the metaphor through the whole book. A companion book to A Room of One's Own! The studios/residences are connected by a long corridor with a lounge, TV and shared cooking area in the middle. Their studios are in two corners of the upper floor of a remodeled warehouse looking out over the Helsinki harbor. Between them they write short stories and plays they paint, photograph, sculpt, and make woodcut engravings and videos. The women are long-time partners and both are multi-talented artists. The author is the famous Finnish writer and artist whose children’s book character Moomintroll inspired TV shows, cartoon strips and theme parks in Finland and Japan. This is a beautiful book about two real-life women and the space between them.

Fair Play by Tove Jansson