Joenpelto, Eeva

(1921-2004)

   A Finnish novelist, Joenpelto grew up in a middle-class family in Lohja, a small town in southwestern Finland. Her first novel, Kaakerholman kaupunki (1950; The Town of Kaakerholm) has that type of a community as its setting, and later Joenpelto named a series of four novels for her hometown. Her next book, Veljen varjo (1951; A Brother's Shadow), investigates how a person who was lost during the war is remembered by the survivors. In the novel Johannes vain (1952; Just Johannes) the protagonist leaves the materialism of the city behind in order to be at one with nature. The theme of Neito kulkee vetten päalla (1955; tr. The Maiden Walks upon the Water, 1991) is how a strong woman can get along with a weak man.

   Joenpelto also published a large number of other novels that were well received. In the 1970s she wrote a series of novels that have her hometown as their setting, consisting of the books Vetäa kaikista ovista (1974; A Draft from Every Door), Kuin kekale kadessa (1976; Like Holding a Red Hot Coal in Your Hand), Sataa suloaista vetta (1978; Salty Rain), and Eteisiin ja kynnyksille (1980; Into the Hallways and onto the Thresholds). The action takes place after 1918 and tells about social and political change in Lohja, which symbolizes all of Finland.

   Other novels of significance are Elaman rouva, rouva Glad (1982; tr. The Bride ofLife, 1995), which tells about a woman with a knack for making money, and Avoin, hella ja katumaton (1991; Open, Tender, Unrepentant), in which the characters, who come from very different social backgrounds, have something of both the decent person and the crook in them. Joenpelto's final novel was Tuomari Muller, hieno mies (1994; Judge Muller, a Fine Man).