Valoa valoa valoa
(Light, Light, Light) Book not yet available in English
Summary:
Mariia Ovaskainen lives in a small town with her family. Everything feels mundane, until she meets Mimi. After that nothing is the same as before. It’s the summer of 1986, a couple months after the Chernobyl disaster. 14-year-olds Mariia and Mimi get to know each other and soon form a strong bond. During that summer the girls experience a short but intense love story. The relationship must be kept secret because Mariia’s mom is ill and cannot bear any additional burden. Mimi is also having a rough time: her mom has committed suicide and her father is evading her, so she tries to find comfort from harming herself. When Mimi’s grandmother, who is close to her, also dies, everything changes.
Edited by: Lastenkirjainstituutti
Comment:
The novels address themes of family relationships, grief, mental health issues, death and above all: the love that shakes the world of two teenage girls. The love story parallels the Chernobyl explosion that occurred simultaneously in the world of the novel: both have an immeasurable impact, one on the entire world and the other on the characters’ own lives. The impact of both of the events is tried to be kept concealed. In the novel, Mariia is the narrator and is recounting the events afterwards. The reader is directly addressed in the narration. The movie Valoa valoa valoa (Light, light, light), based on the novel, was released in 2023, which brought the book back into the mainstream.