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.
