
language: Finnish
REINO RAUANHEIMO
In the hush of early dawn, the Hietala family lives on the edge of a growing town where a modest wooden house stands squeezed between new brick buildings and a bustling main road. Through the thin walls the sounds of trams, freight trucks and lingering night‑time storms filter in, while mother Jenny quietly rises from a makeshift kitchen bed, skirts a leaking pipe and prepares tea before slipping her daughter back into sleep. She gathers a cart filled with ice‑cream, soda, fruit and tobacco, a routine she has performed for a decade since her husband’s death, each market trip a small act of perseverance.
Jenny steps out into the crisp, bright air, her thoughts drifting between the lost years and the hope that the day might bring something better for her children. Meanwhile Liisa awakens, swatted a persistent fly, and faces the new day with a mix of irritation and curiosity. The novel paints a vivid portrait of ordinary life in a 1930s Finnish working‑class neighbourhood, where everyday chores and quiet ambitions unfold against the backdrop of a town in transition.
Language
fi
Duration
~5 hours (303K characters)
Release date
2026-01-08
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1901–1953
A Finnish writer and publishing editor, he built his career around books both on the page and behind the scenes. His work includes fiction and retellings rooted in Finnish literary culture, and several of his texts are now in the public domain.
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