This was a really unique read. The author is Swedish and very unorthodox. The story is written in third person but from the perspective of a precocious seven year old girl. Her parents are divorced and caught up in high profile careers and new partners. Her mother is expecting a new baby with her stepfather. Right away the reader is impressed that her grandmother has become the main influence and ally for the girl.
The grandmother is a true character full of impetuous mischief. Her relationship with her own daughter is fraught with angst. She is the rule bender and breaker and her daughter is portrayed as the classic control freak. (The reason for the extreme character contrast is revealed as the story begins to unpack everyone's back stories.)
The grandmother has invented a fantasy world and taught her granddaughter a secret language which seems to be a code for understanding people and navigating in a difficult world. It becomes a sort of refuge for the little girl who experiences bullying at school from other children.
Tragically the grandmother dies of cancer. Elsa (the granddaughter) becomes the bearer of letters of reconciliation her grandmother wrote to people with whom her relationship had become strained and frayed. Through this process of distributing letters, understanding and healing begin to take place among this small community of families and neighbors who share an apartment complex.
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