What different temperaments siblings can have.

Tove Jansson

In the deep winter snows of a Swedish hamlet, a strange young woman fakes a break-in at the house of an elderly artist in order to persuade her that she needs companionship. But what does she hope to gain by doing this? And who ultimately is deceiving whom? Can you blame yourself if, as Tove Jansson writes, you are “almost criminally gullible or simply careless”?

In this portrayal of two women encircling each other with truth and lies, nothing can be taken for granted. By the time the snow thaws, both their lives will have changed irrevocably.

The True Deceiver on the publisher Sort of Books’ website.

The book was first published in Swedish as Den ärliga bedragaren in 1982 and was translated into English in 2009.