First published in English two decades ago under the title Not Before Sundown, this novel was named one of the top 10 Nordic books. Now smartly retitled as Troll: A Love Story, and with only the odd reference to Windows 98 and CD-Roms to show its age, Finnish novelist Johanna Sinisalo’s debut feels fresh and bright.
It’s set in a world like ours but for one precise adjustment. In the Finland of the novel, trolls, rather than living under bridges in children’s books, are real creatures. The result of “convergent evolution” with primates, they have “pseudo-humanoid external characteristics” and were discovered living in the wild in the early 20th century.
But now – around the year 2000 – trolls are finding their way into cities, and the story opens with a young gay photographer, Angel, rescuing a troll from a bunch of thugs. His motives, though, are not entirely altruistic: “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I know straight away that I want it,” he says, taking the animal, with its “small black bony bottom” and “tufted twitching tail”, back to his apartment, where he has to learn how to look after it.
Troll goes in different directions at once. Angel looks out at the world, at least via his computer screen, as he researches trolls on “the cursed highway of knowledge” and learns about their relationship with humans. The news reports, books and poems he finds – at least some of which seem to be real, by Scandinavian writers including Selma Lagerlöf and Väinö Linna – are scattered between the narrative chapters.
And he also looks inward, at how the presence of the troll – which he names Pessi – colours his own relationships. The troll seems to act as a catalyst or accelerant for what was really always there. Angel makes use of Pessi’s image on an advertising campaign he’s working on. He flirts with his vet so he can steal some anti-parasite medication for his secret pet.
One complication, if that’s the word, is that the pheromones Pessi exudes, which recall Calvin Klein aftershave (“spruce, lemon, spices”), have an aphrodisiac effect on humans. As a result, local nerd Ecke finds himself aroused when Angel – coated in Pessi’s scent – is nearby. Angel himself develops a “massive erection” when Pessi sits on his lap, and then slakes the lust with a grateful Ecke. The troll then rages with sexual jealousy when it smells Ecke’s scent on Angel’s skin.
As this summary of just one thread of the book suggests, Troll feels most at home when it’s a lively romp, right up to the high-octane drama of its ending. Subtler and darker elements – the domestic violence faced by Angel’s neighbour Palomita, or the idea that trolls have been exiled from their natural habitat by environmental changes – are never really explored in depth. In the small school of inter-species fiction, it has less oomph than Rachel Ingalls’s Mrs Caliban or Marian Engel’s Bear. But it has a playfulness and charm that you can’t fake, and that’s worth celebrating.
• Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo, translated by Herbert Lomas, is published by Pushkin Press (£9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
