Otava

The people of the village tell the tale in many voices. Mr. Darwin’s gardener Thomas Davies, whom the villagers view with suspicion, emerges as the main character. Darwin himself, however, is a local celebrity who is visited by people from as far away as London, and has a shower in his bath.

Fate has tested Mr. Davies. His wife Gwyneth is dead, his daughter is incompetent and his son is frail. It’s well known that the gardener doesn’t believe in God, and it’s rumoured that he plans to kill himself. He even burned his wife to death in their oak bed!

 “The most beautiful thing about plants is their silence. The second most beautiful is their motionlessness – I wrote that when Gwyn died – I’m reading it now – it’s evening – I’m writing unscientifically, when even sympathy is jarring and even good wishes aren’t left in peace, the grief weighs on me but it’s a stone I must carry myself.”

Kristiina Carlson’s narrative is a lively sketch of the movements of the human psyche and of the natural events in both the internal and external landscapes.

Carlson’s novel To the Ends of the Earth was awarded the 1999 Finlandia Prize and was published the following year in German (Fest Verlag). She has also published collections of poetry and books for young adults.