Reviews

• “A brilliant novel.”

• “Wonderful Women by the Water, a first novel by the Finnish short-story writer Monika Fagerholm, is in itself wonderful.”

• “Intriguingly satisfying!”

• “Monika Fagerholm´s Wonderful Women by the Water is a compelling and thorough debut novel.”

• “Fagerholm´s style is concise and powerful.”

• “Monika Fagerholm portrays the early 60s critically, but in a fascinating manner: the naïve optimism, the infantile urge to consume, the narcissism and the craving for pleasure. She puts into words the accusation of the youth of the 60s: an accusation directed at their parents´ generation, who refused to grow up. Neither bitterness, nor self-pity tarnish her presentation. It is lucid and penetrating, but never uncharitably judging.”

• “This filmic novel builds up a series of increasingly menacing tableaux with a
  fascinating and clinical exactness.”

• “It takes a unique talent to describe these family summers. The Finnish writer Monika
  Fagerholm has plenty of it. To revel.”

• “Provocative. . . A timeless reverie on childhood.”

• “An entertaining first novel. . . [that] offers a bleak and funny view of the pains of
  growing up and the difficulties of adapting to rapidly changing times and ideals.”

• “Fagerholm´s. . . exacting eye for the world of childhood…puts this 'summer paradise´
  into poignant perspective.”

• “Monika Fagerholm´s novel is a fascinating account of a gradual security breakdown.”