The Red Book of Farewells

A riveting, witty novel about revolutionary love and motherhood: the final volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy

'A Finnish masterpiece of autofiction... a dreamy, complex and therefore so very human portrait of the formation of a great artist' Financial Times

‘This is where she would like to belong, here in the kingdom of women, where words are sharp but gazes are soft.’

In 1970s Helsinki, a revolutionary storm is blowing through Pirkko Saisio’s university. She has moved out of her family home, joined a communist theatre, and fallen in love for the first time. Her newly shaved head looks unmistakably modern, and Bertold Brecht lives on her windowsill to profess God-like words of wisdom.

Playful, moving and original, this autofictional coming-of-age story embeds the reader in a world where art and activism are irrevocably intertwined, and where queer love, still a crime, thrives in underground bars.
In her mesmerizing account of radical politics and sexual awakening, Pirkko Saisio offers a series of farewells, to her mother, to the idealism of youth, to friends and lovers, and finally to her grown daughter. The grand finale of the award-winning Helsinki trilogy, The Red Book of Farewells embraces the revolutionary potential of moving on.

Translated from Finnish by Mia Spangenberg