
A quiet voice opens the story, a father at six‑and‑a‑half years old looking back from the edge of his own childhood. He remembers wandering among the birch thickets, the glow of orange‑flowered blossoms, and the rustle of the wind before his wife's call draws him home. In a gentle, almost reverent tone he begins to address his four young children, trying to put the wonder of their existence into words that can hold the weight of a whole life.
The narrative unfolds in a modest Finnish countryside, where farms and old cottages become the backdrop for his reflections on love, memory, and the thin line between the ordinary and the poetic. He muses on how each child carries a story that deserves its own novel, while he wrestles with the limits of language and the restless imagination of a parent. Listeners are invited into a tender meditation on family, identity, and the quiet beauty of everyday moments.
Language
fi
Duration
~1 hours (59K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
Finland: WSOY, 1924.
Credits
Tapio Riikonen
Release date
2023-02-10
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1888–1964
Raised in rural Finland, this Nobel Prize–winning writer became known for tender, clear-eyed novels about peasant life and the bond between people and nature. His work helped bring Finnish literature to an international audience.
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