Moominland Midwinter - Tove Jansson

My favourite so far, Moominland Midwinter is where things begin to get considerably darker and more mature, both in setting and tone. It's the midwinter solstice and Moomintroll is meant to be hibernating with his family until Spring. Inexplicably, he finds himself awake for the first time in the dead of winter. It's a hauntingly disconcerting moment when he realises that he's alone, surrounded by his unconscious family, with a hostile, unfamiliar world outside. Jansson's surreal writing really begins to shine but there are a few internal inconsistencies with earlier books. Moomin claims to have never seen snow before, yet I'm pretty sure he did on the Lonely Mountains. There was also the reappearance of the Groke, although it was earlier affirmed that she was never seen in Moominvalley again. Putting these errors aside, I really enjoyed Moomin's gradual discovery of the valley's slightly creepy winter inhabitants, one of whom, Too-Ticky, was apparently modeled on Jansson's lesbian partner. The caricatures are very well realised here and the sense of isolation is spine-tingling.

Rating: 4/5