The Price of Water in Finistere

'In the same way as there's a partner for every person, there's a pl ace. All you have to do is find the one that's yours among the billion s that belong to someone else, you have to be awake, you have to choos e.' With this conviction in mind, the central character of this engagi ng and profound novel by acclaimed Swedish writer Bodil Malmsten aband ons her native country at the age of 55 to settle in Brittany. For six months she is mind-lessly happy. Then, one fateful February day, she promises her elegant neighbour Madame C to write about her beloved 'bi t of paradise'. At the heart of this portrait of a new life is the con viction that the happiness to be found in Finist-re will not allow its elf to be, cannot be, expressed in writing. Embroidered around this se eming paradox are poignant, outraged and thought-provoking observation s on the widest range of subjects: how not to buy plants, the elicit p leasures of bargain-hunting, the misery of writer's block, social demo cracy, racism everywhere, tulipomania, the stubbornness of bank manage rs, the controlling of moles and slugs, death, political hypocrisy, th e delights of wild weather. Malmsten's passion and humour shine throug h every episode she describes, however minor, offering the reader a wi ndow onto a solitary life at once touching, thought-provoking and, occ asionally, hilarious.