Notes from an Island

By Tove Jansson, Tuulikki Pietila, Thomas Teal (translator)

Book cover of Notes from an Island

Book description

In the bitter winds of autumn 1963, Tove Jansson, helped by Brunstroem, a maverick fisherman, raced to build a cabin on a treeless skerry in the Gulf of Finland. The island was Klovharun, and for thirty summers Tove and her beloved partner, the graphic artist, Tuulikki Pietila, retreated there to…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Notes from an Island as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Tove Jansson was one of my favourite authors as a child, thanks to her magical Moomin series.

Her fiction for adults, too (The Summer Book, Art in Nature) is wonderful. However, I have gone for one of her lesser-known books, Notes from an Island, which is simply a short journal with brief and starkly beautiful diary entries concerning the times she spent with her partner, Tuulikki Pietilä, on a barren and otherwise uninhabited island in the Gulf of Finland.

The book is a collaboration - Pietilä supplied stark, minimalist illustrations - and it also includes sections of…

Want books like Notes from an Island?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 37 books like Notes from an Island.

Browse books like Notes from an Island

Book cover of The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us
Book cover of The Wild Isles: An Anthology of the Best of British and Irish Nature Writing
Book cover of North Country: An anthology of landscape and nature

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Finland, graphic designer, and the Winter War?

Finland 23 books
The Winter War 9 books