Release date is 2025-09-26

Tuula Temonen

"Vihdoinkin by Josefina Wettergrund" is a sentimental novella written in the late 19th century. It centers on a widowed sea captain whose steadfast devotion to his late wife shapes a quiet life of duty, charity, and moral watchfulness, as he searches for a deserving young couple whose enduring love merits an unexpected inheritance. The story follows Captain Antti Boj from his joyous youth and happy marriage to Elsa through the loss of their children and, finally, Elsa herself. Settled in a house by the churchyard, he visits her grave daily and, with his plainspoken housekeeper Mrs. Svärd, spends years seeking a couple whose affection can withstand trials over time. He observes unions that falter—one ruined by neglect and drink, another by vanity and flirtation—until he discovers a humble telegraphist’s family living downstairs: an industrious wife who protects her husband’s honor and a household kept warm by mutual care even in illness and scarcity. Quietly aiding them, he finalizes a will after their tenth wedding anniversary, and on the day their newborn daughter is baptized Elsa, he gives a parting gift and later dies peacefully at his wife’s grave, content that he has, at last, found love worthy of his trust. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän Kirjapaino, 1898