First published 2017
Karl Ove sits down each day to write to his daughter before she arrives in the world. From his home in rural Sweden, he composes short pieces about everything she will encounter: doors, floors, water taps, garden chairs beneath kitchen windows. He writes about the sun, wasps, jellyfish, eyes, even lice. Nothing escapes his attention as he catalogs the material and natural world around him. He draws from memories of his own childhood while describing daily life with his wife and children. Through close observation of ordinary objects and phenomena, he creates a personal encyclopedia that spans from chewing gum to distant stars. Each entry reveals his acute sensitivity to the small moments that fill a day. Karl Ove knows his daughter will see the world through her own eyes and live her own life. But showing her what exists now makes his own life worth living. This intimate portrait captures the tender bond between parent and child through one father's attempt to map the vast, unknowable world his daughter will inherit.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Rural Sweden, Sweden
Period: 21st-century
224 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press