Representing the best
Finnish authors abroad
Finnish authors abroad
Every stage of a relationship has its continent. Where are you on the world map of love?
Oona first meets Alex at a writers’ conference, where they share a sense of alienation. They are not real writers: Alex is a financial journalist, and Oona draws comics about a hippie girl named Rainbow. Oona has often entertained the thought that each stage of a relationship is like a different continent, and their journey begins immediately. A tender and candid love story with a strong autobiographical feel, Continents follows Oona and Alex across the world map.
Asia usually comes first, humid and enchanting: couples make love endlessly and hold hands for the slightest of reasons, as though the other might suddenly disappear. Australia is remote and isolated, more practical, the continent of babies’ first teeth and curious incidents, but the transition from Asia is mercifully slow. America has great plains, tornadoes, and roaring waters, but past fears and future threats are not overwhelming, and everyday does not sound like a curse. Africa is marked by deeper fears, dry seasons, sunburned grass, swarms of moths, chilly nights, and silence. Europe is the continent of ruins, where meaningful pauses, italics, and irony become useful. Greenland, although not a continent, is the last stop before the inevitable fall to Antarctica.
Oona is convinced that, for our loves to last just a little longer, we need new continents—uncharted territories like Issaria, Ormak, or Umarlia.
English (New Terrain Press)
Czech (Metafora)
Slovaki (Columbus)