This is a beautifully written book. Maybe too beautifully written.
A quick background: During WWII, roughly 70,000 Finnish "war children" were sent to live in neutral Sweden. Most went back home after the war, about 5,000 didn't.
Takanen shares her story, and the story of her father; on of these 5,000 children. The story is terribly beautiful. Heartrending. It's a story of a splintered family; of two families, one Swedish and one Finnish. It's a story of how war lingers; how it stays in a person, in a family.
The writing is sublime. Poetic. Almost perfect.
But, for me, this perfection is also the book's greatest weakness. It creates a distance from the telling for me. It removes me from the feelings.
I would have loved to experience it more raw. Less polished. I think that would have fitted the story better. For me.
Still, read it. If you can, read it.