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The Red Book of Farewells
Series: Penguin International Writers
Brief Description
A riveting, witty novel about revolutionary love and motherhood: the final volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy. 'This is where she would like to belong, here in the kingdom of women, where words are sharp but gazes are soft.' In 1970s Helsinki, a revolutionary storm...
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November 2026
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The Red Book of Farewells
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Description
A riveting, witty novel about revolutionary love and motherhood: the final volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy.
'This is where she would like to belong, here in the kingdom of women, where words are sharp but gazes are soft.'
In 1970s Helsinki, a revolutionary storm is blowing through Pirkko Saisio's university. She has moved out of her family home, joined a communist theatre, and fallen in love for the first time. Her newly shaved head looks unmistakably modern, and Bertold Brecht lives on her windowsill to profess God-like words of wisdom.
Playful, moving, and original, this autofictional coming-of-age story embeds the reader in a world where art and activism are irrevocably intertwined, and where queer love, still a crime, thrives in underground bars.
In her mesmerizing account of radical politics and sexual awakening, Pirkko Saisio offers a series of farewells, to her mother, to the idealism of youth, to friends and lovers, and finally to her grown daughter. The grand finale of the award-winning Helsinki trilogy, The Red Book of Farewells embraces the revolutionary potential of moving on.
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Pre-order
The Red Book of Farewells
A riveting, witty novel about revolutionary love and motherhood: the final volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy. 'This is where she would like to belong, here in the kingdom of women, where words are sharp but gazes are soft.' In 1970s Helsinki, a revolutionary storm is blowing through Pirkko Saisio's university. She has moved out of her family home,...Paperback$3200Unit price /UnavailableOut 24 Nov 2026Pre-order -
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241730119
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 27 August 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Mia Spangenberg
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 25.0mm
Width: 134.0mm
Height: 215.0mm
Weight: 344g
Pages: 320
About the Author
Pirkko Saisio (Author) Pirkko Saisio (born 1949) is one of Finland's most celebrated writers as well as an actor and theatre director. The author of numerous novels, plays and scripts for film and television, Saisio has been nominated for the Finlandia Prize seven times, winning it in 2003. She has, among other awards, received the Aleksis Kivi Prize and the State Literature Award. Lowest Common Denominator is the first volume in her Helsinki trilogy, followed by Backlight and The Red Book of Farewells. Mia Spangenberg (Translator) Mia Spangenberg translates from Finnish, Swedish and German. She is the winner of the Nadia Christensen Prize for her translation of Lowest Common Denominator.
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Backlight
A riveting, funny coming-of-age story — the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy. Teenaged Pirkko can't decide which she hates most — God, her communist father, or her growing breasts. Grandpa has moved into the room long promised to her, and Mother, overworked and distant, tries to keep the peace between her headstrong daughter and husband. It's 1960s...Paperback$3500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Lowest Common Denominator
A riveting, funny coming-of-age story - the first volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy. Grandpa says everyone should leave me alone. If I want to be a boy, then I'm a boy - simple as that. Writing in the wake of her father's death, the narrator of Pirkko Saisio's autofictional novel transports us to the 1950s Finland of her...PaperbackSold Out
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