Moominland Midwinter - Tove Jansson

Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
'It's dead. All the world has died while I slept. This world belongs to somebody else whom I don't know. Perhaps to the Groke. It isn't made for Moomins.

The Moomin family traditionally hibernate through the entire winter, safe and snug in their Moomin House. One year, Moomintroll wakes up early and finds himself on his own, unable to wake anybody else up, not even his Mama. Outside the house the world is cold and white, with no sign of the sun or the comforting warmth of Spring.

Gradually he discovers the others who are awake through the cold, dark months. The lonely and the rum, the dispossessed and hungry, the dweller under the sink and the ancestor in the dark. He also meets Too-Ticky now living in the Bathing House by the frozen sea and the irrepressible Little My who discovers the possibilities afforded by icy slopes and Mama's best silver tray.

This is a book that I have read many times, returning to at the darkest time of the year to savour both the air of melancholy and the hope for the return of the sun. It is a simple delight.

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