Ulla von Weissenberg: The Visiting Soloist

Author Ulla von Weissenberg visits Oulunkylä Library in September to present her debut novel The Visiting Soloist, published in 2025. She is interviewed by cultural producer Anna Huhtikangas.

The Visiting Soloist is a novel about ambition that grows to dangerous proportions, family relationships, and a multigenerational attempt to repair deep self-esteem issues. Eeva, disappointed in her own piano dreams, recognizes promising talent in young Annika, and for the mother-daughter pair, only perfection will do. Eeva lives through Annika's playing - the boundary between self and daughter dissolves, and the feelings of her own failure become something the body must carry. Younger sister Laura learns to anticipate her family members' unpredictable mood swings and dreams of a life as far from home as possible.

Ulla von Weissenberg works as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and has studied writing at the Critical University.