Things Like This Never Happen - by Mika Waltari (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Following a plane crash, an unnamed man and woman travel through an unfamiliar land, language, and eccentric cast of characters in this existential classic, in the disorienting early days of war.

The man knows war is coming--there is talk in the papers of political unrest coming to a head-- but the plane has been given clearance for takeoff. He has an extensive memo in his briefcase dealing with Greece's imports and exports, the country's need for wood, and the measurements used there. Leaving behind the remains of a wasted life--a loveless marriage, a lost child--he sets off, hurtling south, with an immense feeling of peace. It is March 1939.

When stormy weather forces the plane to attempt a landing in unfamiliar territory, they face gunfire from the ground and are shot down. The man and a fellow female passenger are the lone survivors of the crash. Surrounded by mountains and the blossoms of spring, they embark on a journey, across an unknown land and language--encoutering a circus troupe, a band of soldiers, a surreal melange of people and place--toward uncertain salvation, as life as they have known it falls away and the continent is engulfed in war.

One of the best known figures of Finnish literature, Mika Waltari wrote Things Like This Never Happen in 1939 under the pseudonym Leo Arne, though it was not published until 1944. Translated into English for the first time, Things Like This Never Happen is an existential classic that belongs beside Albert Camus's The Stranger or Franz Kafka's The Trial, remaining vital for its presentation of the impossibility of moral certainty in the face of war, betrayal, and violence.

About the Author

Mika Waltari (1908-1979) was among the most popular twentieth-century Finnish writers, best known for his magnum opus The Egyptian. Over a career that spanned five decades, Waltari published well over one hundred works, of which hundreds of translations have been made. His works include at least thirty novels, twenty plays, and fifteen novellas, as well as short stories, poems, screenplays and essays. In 1957 he was appointed to the Academy of Finland, having previously won the state literature award five times. Waltari's works have been translated into over forty languages.

Mia Spangenberg holds a PhD in Scandinavian studies from the University of Washington, with a focus on Finnish literature and cultural studies. She is a 2017 graduate of the Finnish to English literary translation mentorship program organized by FILI, Finland's literary organization. She has translated Pirkko Saisio's classic Helsinki trilogy and picture books by Marika Maijala and Maija Hurme.