The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios and Other Stories is a book of short stories by Canadian author Yann Martel. The book is composed of four short stories.
The title story revolves around a man who, along with a younger friend who is dying of AIDS, invents stories about a family of Italian immigrants living in Helsinki, Finland to help pass the time with his friend. To organize the plot of their strange attempt at fiction they use Encyclopædia Britannica extracts from each year starting from 1901 until present (1986) metaphorically to write each chapter. That story won the Canadian Journey Prize in 1991. In his author's note, Martel states that "Helsinki" was adapted to the stage and to the screen.
The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios and Other Stories is a book of short stories by Canadian author Yann Martel. The book is composed of four short stories.
The title story revolves around a man who, along with a younger friend who is dying of AIDS, invents stories about a family of Italian immigrants living in Helsinki, Finland to help pass the time with his friend. To organize the plot of their strange attempt at fiction they use Encyclopædia Britannica extracts from each year starting from 1901 until present (1986) metaphorically to write each chapter. That story won the Canadian Journey Prize in 1991. In his author's note, Martel states that "Helsinki" was adapted to the stage and to the screen.