This is about 42 kilometres (26 mi) east of Helsinki, and 11 kilometres (7 mi) south of the coast of Finland; though no island exists there in real life. At the end of the book, Moominpappa describes the sea and maybe even himself in a neutral way, speaking of the presence of both contradictory and negative sides and virtues as part of character traits.

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The other books in the series are also phenomenal in terms of the range they have in tone and flavour.

However, slowly he starts growing a fondness for her, and when the lamp ultimately runs out of petroleum the Groke is no longer cold. Slowly, he starts to grow fond of her, and when the lamp ultimately runs out of kerosene, the Groke is no longer cold. Moominmomma has lost her old purpose as a mother in Moominvalley and tries varies ways to recreate it.As a Finnish citizen whose mother tongue was Swedish, she was part of the Swedish-speaking Finns minority.

Moominpappa yearns to make a fresh start, to find a rocky island and lighthouse where he'll feel alert and important again. But how is Moominmamma to grow her flowers and what strange fate befell the last keeper of the lighthouse? It's a powerful and believable story about depression, and I found it moving and relevant to my life, but it's so bleak. When he starts to notice that nature is not as predictable as he had assumed and that it cannot be controlled this way, he begins to find a more authentic understanding. There are the earlier books which are primarily adventure stories and the later books where the characters tend to go off into the woods and think alone.Little My solves the problem by exterminating the ants with petroleum, much to Moomintroll's dismay. The Moomintroll books were written in the immediate aftermath of World War II, which hit Finland very hard.