Yet while one can find some distinctly Finnish traits amongst the Moomins, there are very universal ones as well - and each fan of the Moomin stories seems to find a character with which they most identify. Themes of solitude seem fitting in a country that appreciates the power of silence and the idea of relying on one’s own inner strength to persevere. Some believe Pietilä is partly represented by the upbeat Too-Ticky, a can-do problem solver and close friend to the Moomin family. The two saw each other secretly in Helsinki (same-sex relationships only became officially legal in Finland in 1971) and spent the summer months on an uninhabited island where they’d built a cottage. Although she had serious relationships with men, Jansson eventually fell in love with her lifelong partner, Tuulikki Pietilä.

The quirkiness of Jansson’s characters probably comes less from being a member of a minority language in Finland than from her own self-identity. Högfors says that when she met a Swedish mother some months ago, that mother said, “‘You speak Moomin Swedish.’” The Moomin books are also deeply popular in neighboring Sweden.īecause the Moomin cartoons that Swedes see are voiced by Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedes have come to associate the Swedish that Finns speak with Moomin Valley. “It’s important for all the Finnish people,” says Högfors of the Moomin lore, but she notes that it feels special for her family to read it in the original language in which it was written. Högfors and her family are also members of that Swedish-speaking minority, which now numbers about five percent of the Finnish population. Jansson was a member of the minority of Finns whose principal language is Swedish and first wrote her book in Swedish - although it was quickly translated into Finnish. They are soft stories and friendly stories instead of having the kids get nightmares.” “Even if there’s a scary part, the scary person is always kind inside,” says Högfors. Even the frightening creatures like The Groke, who is introduced later, are really just misunderstood and lonely. The story, like all subsequent Moomin tales, confronts emotions like fear, loss, and loneliness but ends well - reaffirming the power of family, love, and friendship.

Moomin author