Release date is 2026-04-26

Tuula Temonen and Johanna Kankaanpää

"Keveä kesäinen tarina" by Albert Theodor Gnudtzmann is a novel written in the early 20th century. It blends light comedy, gentle mystery, and a hint of romance around the Danish estate of Munksholma. The story follows the dreamer Matts Brille, his painter friend Petter Witt, and an overeager young lawyer as they hunt for documentary proof of a secret marriage that could transfer the estate, drawing them into satirical mishaps and encounters with its stern owner Josefina Munk, her spirited ward Helga, and the mild, fussy steward Krapp.

The opening of the novel launches with slapstick—Petter Witt’s pillow triggers chaos with a bill collector—before Matts declares he may be heir to Munksholma through his late uncle’s secret marriage to Edla Munk. A torn note hints at hidden papers in the family archive, and Witt plausibly deciphers the clue, prompting the trio (Matts, Witt, and varatuomari Mossgord) to travel to Skogstofta amid comic station delays and a malodorous fellow-passenger’s cheese. The scene shifts to Munksholma, where the austere Josefina Munk, grown bitter yet powerful, has adopted Helga Möller as her heir on the strict condition she never marry, a pact known only to Helga, Josefina, and steward Krapp. At the start of their stay, Witt’s seaside painting session ends in a cow-induced tumble into a stream; Helga, contrite and capable, rescues his gear and brings him to the estate for breakfast and dry clothes, teasing Krapp with a mock shipwreck tale. Witt borrows Krapp’s ill-fitting black suit, and as the scene closes, a folded paper found in the pocket—a potential lead—passes into Krapp’s hands, setting the intrigue in motion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Hämeenlinna: Arvi A. Karisto, 1915