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2000s: A story of a town, cinematic guides and some secret passages underground
Secret Passages in a Hillside Town
What you need to know before your trail
In a small hillside town, Olli Suominen – publisher and discontented husband – is constantly losing umbrellas. He has also joined a film club. And Greta, an old flame, has added him on Facebook.
As his life becomes more and more entangled with Greta’s and his wife and son are dragged into the aftermath of this teenage romance, Olli is forced to make a choice. But does he really want to know what the secret passages are? Can he be sure that Greta is who she seems to be? And what actually happened on that summer’s day long ago?
Absorbing, atmospheric and often very funny, Secret Passages in a Hillside Town is an intoxicating novel about the grip of the past and the romance of what has been lost.
Travel Guide
Finland
Olli works in publishing and he along with Greta, an old flame, is about to publish some cinematic guides to the local area and cities around the world. What cities have that cinematic quality and what exactly does that entail? Well there’s lots of snippets from the guides to help you explore the sights for real.
That is setting number one but setting number two is quite different and a lot darker. It’s the secret tunnels under the town where they live in Finland. Something happened one night under these tunnels and the truth of that is only starting to come out now.
Jyväskylä
“Jyväskylä’s town centre was small, basically just a few square blocks. Every evening it was jammed with people getting off work, stressed and hungry.The mingled with the kids loitering off Compass Square or in front of the Forum shopping centre”
Mäki-Matti
“The Souminen’s house was in Mäki-Matti , a verdant resident area on the far side of Harju ridge.” The easiest way back home from the publishing house is the dullest apparently
Harju Ridge
Harju Ridge was Jyväskylä’s most important landmark. If you stood at the summit and looked south east, you could see over the city streets as far as the lake and beyond”
Streetview Maps
C) Jyväskylä - Harju ridge
E) Jyväskylä - Puistokatu's trees
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
I like this but it’s quite an odd and quirky read. Olli works in publishing and he along with Greta, an old flame, is about to publish some cinematic guides to the local area and cities around the world. What cities have that cinematic quality and what exactly does that entail? Well there’s lots of snippets from the guides to help you explore the sights for real.That is setting number one but setting number two is quite different and a lot darker. It’s the secret tunnels under the town where they live in Finland. Something happened one night under these tunnels and the truth of that is only starting to come out now.
The writing has a very particular style to it- as if someone is narrating the characters on stage and even controlling them and the sentences are sharp and short and have a child’s simplicity to them which helps form the overall feeling of a old film playing out with watercolour, flickering characters and snowy settings.
It all gets a bit weird towards the end when the secrets come tumbling out and I wanted to shake some sense into Olli. This is a man who loves publishing though so I couldn’t stay confused at him for long.
Overall, a good read with a definite style of its own.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Secret Passages in a Hillside Town
Destination: Jyväskylä Author/Guide: Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen Departure Time: 2000s
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