title: The Englishman: Can Love Go the Distance?
author: Halme, Helena
description: A stylish 1980s Nordic love story – based on true events. Review: ‘The Englishman is quite the page-turner, I had difficulty stopping myself from devouring it in one go. All the small details about Finland and Sweden give the book such colour, and I love seeing England through Kaisa's eyes! Highly recommended!’ – Tania Hershman, author of My Mother Was an Upright Piano.’ When a young Finnish student Kaisa is invited to the British Embassy Cocktail party in Helsinki to celebrate a Royal Navy visit to Finland, she’s not looking for romance. After all, her future has been carefully planned: she’s to complete her degree, marry her respectable, well-to-do Finnish fiancé Matti, and live happily ever after. Enter the dashing Peter, a newly qualified naval officer. Like a moth to a flame, Kaisa falls head over heels in love with the handsome Englishman. The young lovers steal passionate kisses in the chilly Esplanade Park and promise to meet again. Kaisa and Peter embark on a long-distance relationship, but at the height of the Cold War, while the Englishman chases Russian submarines, Kaisa is stuck in Finland, a country friendly with the Soviet Union. Kaisa lives for the Englishman’s passionate letters and infrequent long-distance phone calls, but her jealous ex-fiancé doesn’t want to let go, and her old-fashioned father hates foreigners. Can Kaisa trust the gregarious Englishman? Wouldn’t she be better off going back to her fiancé? While Kaisa struggles to keep up faith in the relationship, a war breaks out in the faraway Falkland Islands… Will the love between Kaisa and the Englishman last and go the distance? This ‘Will they, won’t they?’ -tale of long-distance love is based on true events and attracted thousands of readers when first published as a series of blog posts on Helena’s London Life. The Englishman will be one of the best true stories you’ll read this year!