HS Library The book of the week offers the perfect union of cultural history and soap opera

Last in October Pirkko Saisio, 72, published a novel that differs from all of his previous ones over a long and prolific career.

“Abundant, adventurous and surprising Passion could even include a wonderful adjective rarely used in literary criticism (for good reason), ”the critic Suvi Ahola praised (HS 31.10.) “For me, it’s just that, and at the same time the bright crown of the book year 2021.”

The adventure novel from century to century shows Saisio’s experience and amount of knowledge, but it is also full of imagination and immense joy of telling.

A clear confluence Topelius is Passion Välskär’s reports a valuable object that passes from hand to hand and affects the fate of its plaintiff.

Passion the story dates back to 1498, when the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola incited the people of Florence to oppose wealth and depravity.

The end point of the wandering gold jewel in the more than 700-page novel is in the 1950s in the Esplanadi Park in Helsinki.

Over the history of ideas to the top Passion Rises – Fortunately for readers! – imagination, the joy of storytelling.

“You could say that Passion is a real anti-pandemic work: a passionate praise for human life that is so beautiful and precious, even when incomplete and broken, ”Ahola writes.

“It’s as if Saisio has used the entire repertoire of the playwright and novelist, all of his experience and the vast amount of cultural-historical knowledge.”