Juhani teaches Finnish and literature in a high school. He has just divorced from his wife Hanna, when a new student enrolls in the school. Marianne is young, beautiful, clever – and 17.

They start talking about books and movies, just like a teacher and his pet might. When Marianne shows him her short stories, they start meeting up outside of school hours. Juhani realizes soon that there is something more serious between them.

The novel is a beautiful and surprising story about falling in love. It is full of intertextuality and of course refers in a clever and self-aware way to Nabokov, too, but takes unexpected turns. It is a psychologically sharp book for book lovers.