This book has already travelled before being registered: Kai Arstila from Helsinki has sent it Chris Jeynes from Guildford, who sent it to me (Nuno Barradas in Lisbon).

This is the first volume of a saga that depicts modern Finnish history (from the late 19th century on) - as such, it is an epic. As such, it may appeal most to Finns - who have voted it to be the single most significant modern Finnish work of art. As an epic, the characters are occasionally unidimensional - each character fulfills a given role, and mostly sticks to that role. But as the story develops, the new characters also develop and gain breadth and thickness.

Actually, this book probably tells more about the way the Finns think about themselves (i.e. how they would like to be) than about the way they really are - not many living Finns have cleared a swamp on their own, or lived under tenancy/serfdom!

The translation seems to me to be competent (even if some expressions are used that are just so English), but the distinctive Finnish language probably much enhances the book for those who can read it in the original - not many outside Finland!

Released directly to a friend 7 January 2005