In those days they lived together with the house-trolls in people's houses, mostly behind their tall stoves. "Some of us still live there now, I'm sure," said Moominmamma. "But only where people still have stoves, I mean. We're not happy with central heating."

I started this book/novella/short-story when my brain badly needed some soothing and although this story contains it's fair share of darkness, the whimsy and coziness just absolutely did the trick for me. Not to mention that I absolutely fell in love with the illustrations.



I am not sure which of the Moomin books I actually read as a child and which are new to me, but I don't think I read this one before and I had a great time with it. I especially appreciated the strength of Moominmamma, which is something that disappeared just a little bit from the next Moomin book that I read ([b:Comet in Moominland|1003725|Comet in Moominland (The Moomins, #2)|Tove Jansson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389287390l/1003725._SY75_.jpg|1760649] didn't got farther in the series yet).

"Poor mother!" cried Moominmamma, and she jumped out into the water all the way up to her waist. "Hold on to me, and I'll try to catch them with my tail!"

So yeah, I really loved this and I'm looking forward to continuing the series!