Readers of Europe 2022 – Finnish recommendation

 

Library blog Friday 5 August 2022

● General Secretariat of the Council   Readers of Europe 2022 – Finnish recommendation   This summer the Council Library will shine a light on new and emerging European literary talent, with the third instalment of our Readers of Europe initiative. Through books recommended by the Brussels-based permanent representations to the EU, the literary pit-stops on this tour will uncover some of Europe’s exciting new talent. Today’s selection is by the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU – ‘Sinun, Margot’ by Meri Valkama.

Readers of Europe 2022 – Finnish recommendation

• 5 August 2022
 
• Reading suggestion
 
• gsclibrary

Culture EU member states

© East Berlin, Alexanderplatz,1987 / Barbara Ann Spengler / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Recommendation by the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU
Book selected: ‘Sinun, Margot’ by Meri Valkama

Meri Valkama offers a Finnish-German perspective on life before and after the German Democratic Republic (GDR), with her stunning debut novel ‘Sinun, Margot’.

First and foremost this is a book about memory.  About the need to remember and the necessity of forgetting.  

Markus Siltanen believes in the great socialist dream. So much so that he moves with his family from Finland to East Berlin to work as a foreign correspondent. His daughter Vilja grows up there until the wall falls in 1989. Thereafter the family returns to Finland, and her parents’ marriage falls apart.

After the death of her father, Vilja finds a bundle of letters from a woman named Margot in her father’s apartment. Love letters from the time her family lived in Berlin. From an affair she never knew about.

Vilja returns to Berlin to find Margot, and thus begins a journey of discovery to find out who her father really was. Yet this is a very different Berlin from the one she left. A lingering nostalgia for an East Germany that no longer exists creeps over her.

A sprawling family mystery book that opens up to involve broader societal issues, such as the erosion of ideologies and the idea of freedom.

A truly accomplished debut novel, ‘Sinun, Margot’ is a sure-fire page turner.

Meri Valkama (1980) is a Helsinki-based investigative journalist, writer and communications expert. She spent years in East Berlin during her childhood, studying political science and journalism as an adult at the Free University of Berlin, where she conducted research on journalists who worked in the GDR. ‘Sinun, Margot’ is her debut novel.

If you are looking to unearth other Finnish literary gems, discover more via Eureka, the online catalogue of the Council libraries.

• Finnish literature in Eureka

About the Readers of Europe campaign

The year 2022 has been designated the European Year of Youth. The Council Library has therefore chosen to devote the third edition of its annual Readers of Europe initiative to young people, putting the focus squarely on new and emerging European literary talent.

The permanent representations to the EU have once again been invited to recommend books from their countries to read over the summer. The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Discover something new’, the idea being that every permanent representation selects a book by an author who has published their first work within the last five years. We will promote these selections over the summer on the Council Library blog.

Europe is awash with exciting young authors. Dive into this selection and discover stories that hum with fresh ideas and luminous prose. Novels that ask piercing questions about humanity. Stories that are edgy and beautiful, gripping and unsettling. Stories worthy of a place in any library.

So find a comfy place to sit back and relax as we showcase some of Europe’s promising literary talent.

• European Year of Youth (background information)

This post does not necessarily represent the positions, policies, or opinions of the Council of the European Union or the European Council.

The Council Library reading room is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12.00 to 15.00. The Info Desk remains open online from Monday to Friday.