Seattle: Fjord Press, (1995). SIGNED first edition - The first novel by this award-winning translator, "a modest but involving family portrait, is gentle, dignified, and full of ordinary but precious truths. Maija and her sister Leena immigrated to the U.S. from Finland and married Americans. Leena settled in Milwaukee while Maija trekked out to Seattle only to lose her husband after five fast years. . . When the novel opens, Maija has just died unexpectedly at age 75, and her sister, daughter, nieces, and nephew are all flooded with memories of Maija and her decorum, love of art, generosity, and quiet strength and wisdom. As each character grieves, we learn about how Maija eased the pain of such crises as an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the end of a sick marriage, and the fate of a draft resister." SIGNED on the title page. Winner of the Washington Governor's Writers Award. 220 pp. ISBN: 0-940242680.