Secret Passages In A Hillside Town

Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen

Pushkin Press €14 Mooching around his small home town, sourpuss Olli Suominen is always ready to bemoan the lack of photogenic backdrops. At home, he bristles at his wife’s amiable chitchat, and things aren’t much better in the office, where he’s expected to edit a twee sex education book for kids. But then comes a Facebook friend request from an old flame named Greta. Translated from Finnish, this mysterious, idiosyncratic tale exerts an unexpected pull as its grouchy protagonist goes chasing romantic dreams of the past, only to find himself ensnared in a puzzle that’s surreal, sinister and cinematic.