ABOUT
THE BOOK

Elsa, a well-known child psychologist, is dying of cancer and has arranged to be at home during her last months. Her granddaughter Anna is caring for Elsa and one day discovers a mysterious old dress in a closet. It belonged to a young woman, Eeva, who had worked for the family as a nanny decades before but whom they hadn’t spoken about in many years. Anna slowly pieces together Eeva’s story, including her long affair with Anna’s grandfather, and a family cover-up comes to light. In imagining Eeva’s life, Anna begins to understand the tragedies of her own.

True is a psychological drama that explores the nature of truth, lies, memory, and how stories have the ability to bend and change with time. Riikka Pulkkinen, a young Finnish literary talent, depicts the bonds and traumatic schisms of three generations with virtuosic prose and storytelling skill.