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Backlight

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Paperback / softback
272 Pages
5 May 2026
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A riveting, funny coming-of-age story: the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy

Teenaged Pirkko can't decide which she hates most: God, her communist father, or her growing breasts. Grandpa has moved into the room long promised to her, and Mother, overworked and distant, tries to keep the peace between her headstrong daughter and husband. It's 1960s Finland and Pirkko has fun getting into trouble. That is, until her teacher suggests she might have what it takes to be a real writer. Then the historic summer of 1968 arrives, which Pirkko spends working at a Swiss orphanage where no one understands her and, as much as her family drive her mad, she's homesick for the first time.

As the world shifts and swirls around her, Pirkko must make sense of it all - including her own sexual identity. A funny, unique coming-of-age story and an intimate portrait of a life lived in language, Backlight is the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy.

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    Product Details
    ISBN-13
    9780241730072
    Author
    Pirkko Saisio
    Publisher
    Penguin UK
    Published
    5 May 2026
    Format
    Paperback / softback
    Pages
    272

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    RRP: $29.99
    $29.00
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    Backlight

    RRP: $29.99
    $29.00

    Description

    A riveting, funny coming-of-age story: the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy

    Teenaged Pirkko can't decide which she hates most: God, her communist father, or her growing breasts. Grandpa has moved into the room long promised to her, and Mother, overworked and distant, tries to keep the peace between her headstrong daughter and husband. It's 1960s Finland and Pirkko has fun getting into trouble. That is, until her teacher suggests she might have what it takes to be a real writer. Then the historic summer of 1968 arrives, which Pirkko spends working at a Swiss orphanage where no one understands her and, as much as her family drive her mad, she's homesick for the first time.

    As the world shifts and swirls around her, Pirkko must make sense of it all - including her own sexual identity. A funny, unique coming-of-age story and an intimate portrait of a life lived in language, Backlight is the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy.

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