This is a childhood favourite and a book that I regularly re-visit this time of year. Moomins usually sleep through the long winter night, but in this book Moomintroll wakes up and finds himself unable to get back to sleep. The Moominhouse is buried in snow and when manages to dig himself out the valley is transformed by snowdrifts into a strange and unrecognisable landscape. He does find that he is not quite alone though - there is the enigmatic Too Ticky who is now living in the bath house down by the frozen sea, the irrepressible Little My who takes to the snowy slopes with devil may care aplomb, the dweller under the sink, the ancestor and others who are never seen during the warm summer months. My favourite section is about the solstice fire to bring the sun back and Moomintroll's disappointment and anger when it only appears for a brief moment the next day.
Eventually the house starts to fill with refugees from the cold as well as an annoyingly enthusiastic Hemulin who tries to jolly the rest of the winter folk into enjoying the delights of fresh air and skiing, to the point where Moomintroll wishes again for the peace and quiet of being alone in the house. Eventually the snow starts to thaw and there is one last winter storm before Spring arrives and Mama wakes up, and Moomintroll realises that he is the first Moomin to be awake through a whole year.
An absolute delight of a book!
No comments:
Post a Comment