She might be better known as the creator of the Moomins but the Finnish author’s tender hymn to nature and tolerance is as relevant today as it was a half-century ago
There’s a line in The Summer Book by Tove Jansson where the narrator describes the fragility of moss. Residents of the tiny Finnish island where the novel is set are careful to avoid treading on the plant, and it is “only farmers and summer guests” who walk on it.
This is because (“and it cannot be repeated too often”) moss is “terribly frail”. “Step on it once and it rises the next time it rains. The second time, it doesn’t rise back up. And the third time you step on moss, it dies.”
