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But then one morning in 2002, on a remote island off the coast of Finland, the narrator Pirkko Saisio informs her publisher that she's accidentally deleted her latest manuscript, \u003c\/span\u003eThe Red Book of Farewells\u003cspan\u003e. 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She believed sleep was the most important  thing in the world for children. And that adults should be allowed to drink  their afternoon coffee in peace.’  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this charming patchwork of fever dreams and memories, Pirkko Saisio transports us to the 1950s Finland of her youth, where she navigates life as an only child of communist parents. Convinced she will grow up to become a man, a young Pirkko keeps trying and failing to meet the expectations of the adults around her. But as she discovers that she can be the narrator of her own story, it is in language that she finds a refuge and a way to be seen at last.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a world where mascara-streaked mermaids dodge tennis balls, a beloved green cap is stolen by the Big Bad Wolf, and the first tugs of infatuation are inspired by a swimsuit-clad circus announcer, Saisio captures the heart-wrenching intensity of childhood as it floods back in the wake of her father’s death.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeeply moving and disarmingly funny,\u003ci\u003e Lowest Common Denominator \u003c\/i\u003eis the first volume in a trilogy that has been celebrated in Finland as the best work of the century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51596544540945,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51596545392913,"sku":"NGR9780241730096","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51899452588305,"sku":"GOR014454134","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51938760917265,"sku":"GOR014468162","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52580756291857,"sku":"NLS9780241730096","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53443915219217,"sku":"GOR014922184","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0241730090.jpg?v=1786443409"},{"product_id":"lowest-common-denominator-book-pirkko-saisio-9781949641714","title":"Lowest Common Denominator","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51680005554449,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51680005685521,"sku":"NIN9781949641714","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52329860956433,"sku":"CIN1949641716G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52877552124177,"sku":"GOR014650688","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1949641716.jpg?v=1750835690"},{"product_id":"backlight-book-pirkko-saisio-9781949641806","title":"Backlight","description":"\u003cb\u003ePirkko Saisio, now a teenager, can't decide which she hates most: God, her father, or her growing breasts.\u003c\/b\u003e 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. When she's not escaping into her books, Pirkko has fun getting into trouble. That is until her Finnish teacher suggests she might have what it takes to be a real writer, but only if she is willing to work hard and make certain sacrifices. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Years later, Pirkko spends the historic summer of 1968 working at a Swiss orphanage. The world is shifting around her, and to make matters even more complicated: she's homesick. At the orphanage no one understands her German, and away from home for the first time, she struggles to make sense of her suppressed queerness. In \u003ci\u003eBacklight\u003c\/i\u003e, the Finlandia Prize-winning author looks backward and inward, once again emerging, in Mia Spangenberg's sensitive translation, with an intimate portrait of a life lived in language.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51680006832401,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51680006930705,"sku":"NIN9781949641806","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52877524074769,"sku":"GOR014650648","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52902728794385,"sku":"CIN1949641805LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53723062108433,"sku":"CIN1949641805VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1949641805.jpg?v=1751414246"},{"product_id":"backlight-book-pirkko-saisio-9780241730072","title":"Backlight","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A Finnish masterpiece of autofiction... a dreamy, complex and therefore so very human portrait of the formation of a great artist' \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA riveting, funny coming-of-age story: the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTeenaged Pirkko can’t decide which she hates most: God, her communist father, or her growing breasts. 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