Gundel Steigenberger asked Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen Hello Gundel,
and thanks for the question! The ending has been found quite difficult to understand by many of my readers, and that's why I wrote some tips to help to unlock the secrets of the book - unfortunately the page numbers are for the English translation, so they are useless with the German edition. So, I'll do my best to answer you here:

It is said in the book that ghosts smell quilt and are drawn by it to the person who feels guilty about something. And Martti is that kind of person - it doesn't matter if he really has done something bad or not, because his sense of guilt is enough to lure ghosts to his garden. And dogs have an instinct to protect people against ghosts, as do the dogs around Martti's house.

The Rat King symbolizes everything we hide from ourselves, it's everyone's dark side, too scary to face, the naked truth about us. And Laura believes she is not the person she is supposed to be - you see, she has this disturbing memory about herself watching how a girl, young Laura, steps on the thin ice. And the point is that she remembers - or at least thinks so - watching it happen under the ice. So, what is she then, actually? Some kind of water spirit? We don't know the answer, but this is the secret that caused her disappearing, this secret is her Rat King.

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