I remember Tove Jansson as the author of the Moomintroll children's books, and had no idea she wrote books for adults, as well. This book is a collection of vignettes about Sophie and her grandmother, on the island where they spend their summers. Sophie's father is mentioned in some of the vignettes, but he's not really a character of any importance. It's almost exclusively about the two females. The characterizations of both are spot-on, from Grandmother stepping in to make Sophie's fantasy world come out right, to Sophie's inability to stand hearing painful truths.
