Books translated in English

Vatanen, a journalist in Helsinki, returns a report with his colleague, a photographer near Heinola when their car hits a hare. The two men stopped, and Vatanen part in the pursuit of the wounded animal in the forest. So to speak, Vatanen leaves here his previous life, work, wife, apartment.

The protagonist of this novel is Gunnar Huttunen, man from the south of Finland, of which you do not know the past before his arrival in the small town in Lapland, where the novel is set. Huttunen is a man willing and main goal: back together the old abandoned mill for too many years. Overall it's an exhausting job, which many have given up. Of course we can not wait for an abandonment by one of the protagonists of the novels of Paasilinna! The miller's personality, however, is very particular: the "oddities" are deeply embedded in his nature. Very often, especially during the full moon, the main character loves to howl at the moon, during the day, when not engaged in its efforts to remake the beloved structure, is delighted to imitate animals and people of the village. These details of propensities Gunnar did not bear some fame of his fellow citizens, in fact: the population slowly began to organize themselves so that the miller is locked in a mental hospital. The idea of citizenship is completed and the poor Huttunen is imprisoned in the asylum of Oulu. Gunnar will not remain confined within the very structure: will escape and start a new life as a hermit.