Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition
Author’s vision

The Saprophile

Anna-Kaari Hakkarainen

A brilliant novel that dives deep into the human psyche, explores themes such as power, passion, and the world of Ingmar Bergman, and is a reflection on being human through art

✓ Nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize in Fiction!

✓ International narrative art by critically acclaimed author of five novels

✓ For readers of Donna Tartt, Ali Smith, Maggie Nelson, and Rachel Kushner!

An island.

An author. Two women.

Ingmar Bergman.

The main characters of a film who are planning to escape.

The Saprophile is a hypnotic treatise on power and writing. It is the autopsy of a novel, a hybrid that seeks to go where genres end. It is a novel about Ingmar Bergman’s films, about a desire that refuses to obey, about an island, about how easy it is to lose yourself in another person, and how difficult it is to find your way back.

Like a saprophile, an organism that lives and thrives on dead or decaying organic matter, The Saprophile is like a literary organism that eats away at age-old concepts and structures.

Reading material:
English edition
French edition
German edition
Swedish edition

Tangled Roots (aka Inherited Land)

Maria Turtschaninoff

Tangled Roots is an episodic work of literary fiction depicting human relationships with nature across generations, following in the tradition of family sagas like One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

The roots of people and forest are intertwined in the depths of the earth.

✓  Winner of the Svenska YLE Literature Prize of 2022, the Thank You for the Book Award of 2023, the Young Aleksis Award of 2023, and the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize of 2024!

✓  A future classic – rights have been sold to 23 territories and counting!

✓  Fastest selling literary fiction title for Ahlback Agency!

✓  First adult novel by internationally bestselling and award-winning YA author Maria Turtschaninoff, whose The Red Abbey Chronicles have been sold to more than 30 territories!

An old soldier carves a croft out of the Finnish forest and calls it home, but try as he might to tame the land, its wild magic endures. For centuries his descendants will work the farm, through days of plenty and famine, love and war, their fates entangled with the rhythms of the ancient wilderness, where mysterious shapes flit between the trees and danger lurks in the treacherous fen…

Like dragonflies darting over the marsh, their lives glimmer briefly and then are gone: a young girl entranced by the forest folk, a faithless fiancé who meets his match beneath the age-old branches, a farmhand with a strange obsession…

What endures is the wild, and the certainty that wherever we put down roots, the land will grow roots in us too.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition
Swedish edition

36 Urns
A History of Being Wrong

Sirpa Kähkönen

A beautiful, enchanting family saga: “It is a book for the head and the heart, with universal themes and a lot of light.”

✓  Winner of the Finlandia Prize of 2023! Nominated for the Runeberg Prize of 2024 and the Savonia Prize of 2023!

✓  Over 80,000 copies sold in Finland! Rights sold to 6 territories and counting!

✓  For readers of Elizabeth Strout, Tove Ditlevsen, Moa Martinson, and Natalia Ginzburg!

✓  Sirpa Kähkönen has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literary Prize and five times for Finlandia Prize, is the two-time winner of the Savonia Prize and has received the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s grand prize!

Author Sirpa Kähkönen’s mother Riitta (b. 1941) died in March 2022 after a long illness. In life, she struggled to accept love. “I do not grieve your death, I grieve your life,” Sirpa Kähkönen writes, knowing fully well that her mother wouldn’t like the phrase. Her mother rejected love, despite longing for it the most. Riitta was athletic, beautiful, and gifted. A traffic accident at the age of 16 changed the course of her life for ever.

Drawing on her mother’s diaries, Kähkönen depicts the life of a 1950s girl and the dramatic change that followed the accident. The novel talks about community dance halls, a broken mind, flowing hems, a 1960s mother, anxiety, anger and hate, addiction, and moments of psychosis. It talks about how wars and other crises become corporeal, how violence is inherited, and how the culture of discouragement and submission is passed down through the generations in sayings and attitudes, with the author clearly seeing herself as part of the tradition of anger and violence.

The novel is permeated by a fiery love, as if an ancient Finnish spell that, with the power of words, is capable of bringing loved ones back from the dead.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
German sample
Finnish edition

Pine Bark

Tommi Kinnunen

A densely atmospheric and arrestingly written novel about women’s fates in times of war, the difficulty of giving up, and how the proximity of death can change a person

✓ Winner of the Readers’ Favorite of the Finlandia Prize of 2024 and the Adlibris Prize of 2024!

✓ Over 60,000 copies sold in Finland in just eight months! Rights sold to Japan and Estonia!

✓ The sixth novel by one of Finland’s most award-winning, bestselling and internationally acclaimed authors with rights sold to 22 territories!

✓ Tommi Kinnunen has won the Best Book of 2014 Prize by the Grand Finnish Journalism Prize, the Readers’ Favorite of the Finlandia Prize of 2016, 2020, and 2024, the Minna Canth Prize of 2020, and the Giuseppe Acerbi Prize of 2023!

✓ Tommi Kinnunen has been praised for giving a voice to people whose stories have been kept untold

A person cannot return to being who they once were without knowing who they have been.

In 2001, three siblings – Martti and twin sisters Eeva and Marja – meet in a small village in Northern Finland. Their mother Laina, an old woman who has been through the Second World War, is dying and the children have gathered to arrange the funeral. Even though the siblings have always been on good terms, Martti has always felt aloof, the odd man out. All of them reminisce about their childhood, but Martti remembers things slightly differently than the sisters.

As the novel progresses, the readers are transported through the decades and through Laina’s story, culminating in the Soviet partisan attack during the summer of 1944 that irrevocably changed Laina’s life. She has refused to recall the events and, at the same time, has denied her children the opportunity of remembering and recovering. “One can only talk about men’s war, as the women’s war is soundless and forbidden.”

VARGENS UNGE
Albert Bonniers/Förlaget, August 2024, 428 pp. 

Reading material:
English sample, 27-page synopsis
Swedish edition
Finnish edition

Wolf Cub

Johanna Holmström

An atmospheric literary crime novel about desire and fanaticism taking place in the Finnish forests near the Russian border, by an award-winning fiction author

✓ Johanna Holmström is the winner of the Karin Boye Literature Prize 2023, Svenska Dagbladets Literature Prize 2009, The Svenska Yles Literature Prize 2009 and was nominated for the Runeberg Prize in 2018 and in 2023

✓ Her works have been published in over 10 countries

One day, a dirty and unfamiliar little boy stands in Seija’s tulip bed. Upon seeing his wide eyes, her motherly heart overflows, but the boy refuses to say a word – only a memory card is found in his mouth. Police Inspector Minna and her sidekick Timo are called, but no one has reported a missing child. Who is the boy and where does he come from?

When the photographer Gloria moves into a collective in the forest, she feels that she has found her home. She enjoys the freedom and companionship, blind to what is going on around her. And when the truth is finally revealed, it is too late for her to escape.

This relentless thriller is set in Kuhmo, northern Finland, in a wilderness as wonderfully beautiful as it is terrifying. The novel contains explicit references to Finnish folklore, especially the national epic Kalevala.

Wolf Cub is the first part of a trilogy of stand-alone novels.

Reading material:
English edition
Finnish edition

Troll

Johanna Sinisalo

An intoxicatingly strange cult novel about queer desire and wildness, as a man unwittingly disrupts his life by opening his home to a peculiar troll.

✓ Feature film in development by Måns Mårlind (“The Bridge”) & Tuppence Middleton (“Downton Abbey: A New Era”)!

✓ New English edition published in December 2024 by Pushkin Press!

✓ Winner of the Finlandia Prize of 2000! Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award of 2004!

✓ An international bestseller with rights sold to 19 territories!

✓ Johanna Sinisalo has won the Prometheus Award of 2017 and been nominated for the Nebula Award of 2008, the Prix Escapades of 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire of 2017!

Mikael, a young gay photographer, finds a small, man-like creature in the courtyard of his apartment block. It is a young troll, familiar from Scandinavian mythology: a demonic, wild beast. And it is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Supposedly extinct, today it is regarded as a hairy, cuddly toy by Nordic children. Mikael gives the troll a name, Pessi, and takes him home and hides him.

The first thing Mikael does is research everything he can about trolls on the internet, from folklore, nature journals, and newspaper clippings. Despite his studies, Mikael does not learn that trolls exude pheromones that smell like a Calvin Klein aftershave and that this has a profound aphrodisiac effect on all those around him. Shooting an assignment for an ultra-hip brand of jeans, Mikael finds himself fast-tracked into a dangerous liaison with Martes, the sexually ambivalent art director of the advertising agency concerned, while a couple of his friends in turn fall in love with him because he carries the troll’s scent.

What Mikael fails above all to learn, with tragic consequences, is that Pessi the troll is the interpreter of man’s darkest, most forbidden impulses.

Reading material:
English sample
Finnish edition

Push, Pace, Position, Pray

Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen’s hilariously witty new novel about a man’s entry into sprint running via midlife crisis.

✓ Czech rights sold to Host pre-publication!

✓ A feel-good race and a hilarious novel by the award-winning author of six humorous novels

✓ Miika Nousiainen’s titles have been sold to 10 territories!

When a man turns 50, he must either get a motorcycle or start training for the 400-meter run.

For Miika Nousiainen, who doesn’t have a driver’s license and isn’t interested in being a rebel, the choice is a lap on the track, with the goal set for the World Championships in Gothenburg.

The novel’s title, Push, Pace, Position, Pray references sprinter Michael Johnson’s approach to the 400-meter race, divided into four key phases:

• Push: A strong start off the blocks, reaching near top speed in the initial 100 meters.
• Pace: A steady speed maintained along the backstretch.
• Position: Strategically positioning around the third curve.
• Pray: A hopeful, tenacious push through the final homestretch to the finish line.

Can the author transform himself into a real lightweight, high-frequency runner? Perhaps even the record-holder for his age group in Finland?

The author delves ever deeper into a world built on concepts like dorsiflexion, wall drives, MCT oil, and recovery. And his biggest external threat? The Swedish athlete Mattias Sunneborn.

Reading material:
English synopsis
Finnish edition

Treatment

Hanna-Riikka Kuisma

Trainspotting meets Requiem for a Dream in this gritty, literary thriller.

✓ Nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize in Fiction!

✓ Hanna-Riikka Kuisma has received both the Satakunta Arts Council’s Art Prize and the Nortamo Prize for Literature, and her previous novel High-Rise was nominated for the 2020 Finlandia Prize in Fiction.

A chillingly perceptive story about the drug wave that swept over Finland during the recession of 1990s and its veterans.

The life of a man who has succeeded in breaking free from drug circles is shaken up when he hears news of his little sister, who disappeared decades ago. Will the painful memories drag him back to the ruthless drug world of an industrial city, or will he manage to hold on to the new life he has worked so hard to build?

The novel, which takes place in two time frames, is an arrestingly realistic deep dive into the world of addiction, the shadows of our society, and the stages of drug policy from the 1990s to the present day.

Reading material:
English synopsis
Finnish edition

Crimson Web

Aamos Honka

A frighteningly topical debut thriller from an insider in the intelligence world, revealing the hidden heart of secrets ops and hybrid warfare.

✓ Aamos Honka’s work with Finnish intelligence agencies gives him insider access to the world of national security and foreign intelligence

✓ Already a critical success and an instant bestseller – 7000 copies sold in one month!

Crimson Web is an international espionage thriller that gets to the heart of hybrid influence, cyber threats and the geopolitical game. The story interweaves personal tragedies, global tensions and technological threats. Events intertwine in Helsinki, Wuhan, and London as different actors approach the crisis from their own perspectives.

The focus is on Janne Peura, a hybrid threat expert at the Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency, and Laura, a cyber specialist at Supo. They join forces to expose a large-scale international operation involving Chinese and Russian hybrid influence projects, as well as China’s AI-based influence efforts.

Once you read the book, the news headlines will never look the same to you.

The sequel to Crimson Web, book #2 in the Janne Peura series, is slated to be published in Finland in November 2025.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Traces

Anna Harju

“Perfect suspense!” – Max Seeck, New York Times bestselling author
The opening of a gripping crime series set in trendy Tampere.

✓ A fresh, psychologically perceptive crime novel

✓ A gripping story that takes the readers from industrial Tampere to the German island of Fehmarn and finally to the fells of Northern Finland

There are secrets whose revelation will have fatal consequences. There is no escaping them, no matter how hard you try. Must one always pay for their mistakes?

A well-liked pharmacist is found murdered at his workplace. Suspicion falls on pharmacist Joanna Vihervuori, the last person to see her boss alive. Joanna insists she is innocent, but the case begins to twist around her in a strange way.

For Tampere Police Detective Inspector Taro Auramo, this murder investigation is the place to prove himself. The white dust on the dead pharmacist’s cheek raises doubts about whether his business is completely clean, and soon nothing will be as it seems.

Psychologically astute and utterly addictive, Traces is the first in the Taro Auramo crime series set in Tampere. Book #2 is slated to be published in 2026 and book #3 in 2027.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Milo

Max Seeck

Bodies with chess pieces in their mouth – Milo needs to understand the game of chess in order to catch a killer.

✓ Max Seeck’s books have sold over 400,000 copies in Finland and rights have been sold to 41 territories! Finland’s Bestselling Crime Author!

✓ The New York Times & Spiegel Bestselling Author Max Seeck has been included in Vogue’s list of the 19 best Nordic noir books of all time!

✓ Solar Films adapts Milo to an international TV series for global distribution, with production slated to commence in 2026!

✓ Rights sold to 8 territories! Over 45,000 copies sold in Finland!

✓ Big in Japan! Max Seeck’s Milo will be published in Japan by Kodansha in 2026!

✓ Max Seeck won the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for The Last Grudge (Jessica Niemi #3)!

The game has only just begun.

On a cold November evening, a body is discovered on the shore of Seurasaari. The victim’s skin is covered with a thick layer of white paint, and during the autopsy, a chess piece is found lodged in its throat.

The police are baffled. Why would the murderer go to such lengths to disguise the body? And why wasn’t there any attempt to hide it?

Milo Perho, an art gallery owner specializing in profiling killers, is called in to assist. What follows is a nerve-wracking game where every move costs a life, and no one wants it to end in checkmate.

Milo is the gripping debut of the Milo series by internationally acclaimed author Max Seeck. Even before its release, the book’s translation rights were sold to numerous countries, and a TV series adaptation is already in the works.

Book #2: the sequel to Milo (publication in September 2025, Tammi Publishers, Finland)

It’s early September in Helsinki, Finland. Ten months have passed since the events of the first book, and a lot has happened. Milo Perho, an art gallerist and a criminal profiler, has divorced and moved on with his life. While his marriage has fallen apart, he actually has gained some more confidence and is happier single. Milo has given up his dreams of becoming a father, and he tries to enjoy life as it is.

Meanwhile, the Helsinki homicide unit detective (and Milo’s old friend) Minka Laine gets a phone call. A blonde woman has been stabbed to death in the middle of the city. While Minka investigates the surveillance camera tapes of the restaurant, she is shocked to see Milo on the record. She now knows that her old friend is somehow involved in the death of an unknown woman.

KUINKA KUOLEMA KOHDATAAN
Otava, April 2024, 400 pp.

ENNEN KUIN TULEE PIMEÄÄ
Otava, September 2022, 416 pp.

KUN JÄLJET KATOAVAT
Otava, May 2021, 428 pp.

KUN KUNINGAS KUOLEE
Otava, May 2020, 495 pp.

Reading material:
English synopsis (books #4–#5)
English samples & synopses (books #1–#3)
German editions (books #1–#3)
French editions (books #1–#2)
Finnish editions

Saana Havas #5: Who Wanders in the Dark

Elina Backman

The fifth novel by the world-conquering Finnish crime novel queen is atmospheric suspense at its best!

✓  Elina Backman is one of Finland’s bestselling fiction authors!

✓  International TV series in development – rights sold in 17 territories!

✓  Elina Backman’s books have sold over 140,000 copies in Finland!

The shared summer holiday of journalist Saana Havas and crime investigator Jan Leino is interrupted when the body of a 40-year-old man is found in the Katri Vala park in Helsinki. Next to the body is a letter addressed to Jani. When another body with another note is found in the Sofianlehto park, Jani is forced to confront his past mistakes.

Saana travels to the old industrial village of Mathildedal to be a dog sitter for her childhood friend. The villagers are shocked by the appearance of a sign bearing the name of a young woman who disappeared in the village a few years ago. Who has left the sign and what do they know about the missing girl?

Elina Backman’s Saana Havas series has charmed readers in Finland and abroad, selling to 17 territories. The main character of the series, Saana Havas, is a Finnish journalist who ends up solving crime cases and setting up true crime podcasts based on her cases. Backman’s debut, All the King’s Men, immediately prompted the press to call her a new star in the crime scene, and the atmospheric and elegant sequels have continued to captivate readers. The series has been compared to Tana French meeting Jo Nesbø and all books in the series have been bestsellers.

Also available:

Book #1: All the King’s Men
Saana has been fired from her job as a click-bait journalist, so she decides to spend a summer with her aunt in a small town named Hartola. It sounds like a perfect opportunity to take it easy and recover. But when Saana begins to dig into a case of a teenage girl who died 30 years earlier, the peace of the small town is shaken.

Meanwhile in Helsinki a fire-marked body is found at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, and crime investigator Jan Leino and his team have a new case in their hands. However, the investigation isn’t going anywhere, and Jan fears that the murder at King’s Gate is just the beginning. Saana and Jan continue working on their own cases until their paths cross – for more than one reason.

Book #2: Still Waters Run Deep
Three young men are making a documentary film about a mystical hermit, living in the Isle of Sheep in Helsinki. First, one of them disappears, then another one. When one of them is found dead in the nearby nature reserve, the police becomes involved.

Saana Havas, recovering from burnout, hears that her colleague’s younger brother has gone missing and decides to set up a true crime podcast to help with the search. Meanwhile, police commissioner Jan Leino and his team are investigating the disappearance and possible murder of the documentary makers. When young men disappear and die, it’s often regarded as just an accident. But could it be that someone is actually hunting for them?

Book #3: Before the Polar Night Falls
A woman working for a law firm approaches Saana Havas to help with the mystery of her sister’s death. Her sister was found dead in a swamp near the Angeli village in Northern Lapland in 1998, and the murderer has never been caught. The police have given up on the case, no witnesses were ever found in the area of Lapland that covers hundreds of kilometers.

Saana promises to help her and receives all the material the client has collected. Part of this is a manuscript the woman wrote when investigating the case herself years ago. Saana travels to the North and investigates as the winter and polar night keeps creeping closer.

Book #4: How to Face Death
Saana Havas is spending midsummer with her Aunt Inkeri in Kaunissaari, Kotka, renovating her aunt’s friend’s villa and getting to know the mysterious neighborhood. When the midsummer celebrations end fatally, the dark history of the island begins to unravel.

The summer plans of Saana’s boyfriend, police officer Jan Leino, are changed by the murder of a Finnish art collector in Nice. The message left by the murderer puts Jan on his toes. Will there be more victims? And how is everything related to a long-forgotten death?

Reading material:
English edition
German edition
Italian edition
Finnish edition

Follow the Butterfly (Book 1)

Martta Kaukonen

Can she cure a killer? An addictive psychological thriller in the spirit of Gillian Flynn!

✓ Film & TV Rights acquired by Legendary Tobis! English & German editions available!

✓  Published in the UK & US in March 2024 to excellent reviews!

✓ A Spiegel bestseller in Germany with close to 30,000 copies sold!

✓ An international bestseller by author and film critic Martta Kaukonen, sold in 16 territories!

✓ Nominated for the Glass Key Award of 2024 and the Viktor Crime Award of 2024!

Ira, 20, a serial killer who was abducted as a child, starts therapy with celebrity therapist Clarissa. Only one of them knows that they share a mutual secret from the past. Will the other one realize it before she gets murdered?

Clarissa is a middle-aged psychotherapist, the best in her field. Everyone’s seen her on TV and in glossy magazines. For her, every patient is a princess – and someone only she can save. Or can she? Clarissa already has one suicide to answer for; a teenage boy’s death never ceases to haunt her. Ira’s sessions with Clarissa begin a cat-and-mouse game where no one’s following the rules.

The kind of game that never ends well.

German series production company Legendary Tobis TV has acquired the rights to develop it into a German language series.

“We are very excited to start working on “Therapiert” (Follow the Butterfly) by Martta Kaukonen, which is one of the most thrilling debuts of this year. With its strong female characters and surprising twists, it is perfect for a series adaptation”, says Isabel Hund, CEO of Legendary Tobis.

Reading material:
English synopsis
Full English manuscript
German manuscript
Finnish edition

Meet Me in the Darkness (Book 2)

Martta Kaukonen

Nothing is as it seems.

✓ Sequel to the internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed Follow the Butterfly! 

✓ Rights to Follow the Butterfly have been sold to 16 territories, including UK & US, and Film & TV rights acquired by Legendary-Tobis!

Four years have passed since the events of Follow the Butterfly. Ira and Arto have teamed up, and both work as crime journalists for the Helsinki Today. Everything’s going nicely, until Ira starts suspecting there’s a serial killer on the loose in Helsinki.

The murders are investigated by Senior Crime Inspector Kerttu Leppänen, who leads the murder unit and eagerly waits for retirement. Unsolved cases haunt Kerttu, who is unable to forgive herself.

The past catches up with all of them – if they were ever free from its clutches in the first place…

Book #3: Free – Coming in Spring 2025

The year is 1995. Detective Chief Inspector Kerttu Leppänen and her husband Inspector Esko Koivuvyö are investigating the murder of a middle-aged woman. However, a mystery at the murder scene confounds the investigation: a bloody knife is lying on a pillow next to the body, even though it cannot possibly be the murder weapon.

Thirty years later, Ira wants to know the truth about her parents’ marriage. Why was her mother Marja afraid of her father Arto? And why does Arto refuse to answer Ira’s questions?

In different decades, Kerttu and Ira discover something very similar: if you unearth the truth, you must be prepared to face the consequences.

YKSIN
Otava, May 2024, 300 pp.

KOSTO
Otava, June 2023, 298 pp.

Reading material:
English synopses (books #1–#3)
English & German samples for book #1: Revenge
Full English manuscript (book #1)
Series presentation
Finnish editions

The Kristinestad Murders #3: Lies

Kaisu Tuokko

The Kristinestad Murders series, which has captivated readers by tackling social issues, continues.

✓ The Kristinestad Murders series has sold more than 37,000 copies in Finland!

✓ Rights for the series sold to Germany & Sweden!

✓ A crime novel series with a captivating romantic subplot

An idyllic summer evening in Kristinestad takes a chilling turn when a pool of blood is found on the steps of the Church of Ulrika Eleonora. Inspector Mats Bergholm interrupts his Midsummer celebrations to investigate the case and escape his distressing family situation.

Journalist Eevi Manner is adjusting to a new phase of life and being home from work, but can’t resist getting involved in the mystery that has gripped the town. At the same time, she worries about her new friend whose relationship is going sour.

Eevi and Mats cross paths again as the past is closing in with fatal consequences.

“Revenge starts with a wicked crime with a distressing motive [but] text has been written delicately. Fantastic work.”– Satu Rämö, author (Hildur series)

The Kristinestad Murders is an atmospheric crime series set in a coastal town in Finland, with intriguing main characters and interpersonal relationships. The author Kaisu Tuokko combines the thrilling crime plots with societal issues, and the result hooks the reader. The first two books in the series have sold over 37,000 copies – and six installments are planned.

Also available:

The Kristinestad Murders #1: REVENGE
The body of a young man is discovered in the sea, and the criminal investigator Mats Bergholm is responsible for the case. At the same time, journalist Eevi Manner is sent to dig out a scoop of the event for the local newspaper. Both are surprised to find each other on the grim beach: the two have a past together – a past which they now need to set aside to solve the case.

The Kristinestad Murders #2: ALONE
An elderly woman is found dead in Kristinestad, malnourished, dirty, and abused. While Eevi uncovers harsh truths about the treatment of the elderly in Kristinestad, Mats and his team find another abused woman fighting for her life. Just as everything is heating up, Mats discovers a personal connection to the case he never saw coming.

SUO, JOKA UPPOSI
Takamailla #2
Bazar, November 2024, 400 pp.

SAARI, JOKA REPESI
Takamailla #1
Bazar, February 2024, 400 pp.

Reading material:
English sample (book #1)
English synopsis (books #1 and #2)
German sample coming soon (book #2)
Series presentation
Finnish editions (books #1 and #2)

The Outback Series #3: Howl of the Arctic Fell

Joona Keskitalo

The story of a feud between neighbours, of two troublesome corpses, and nine mistakes that set the wilderness of northwestern Lapland ablaze.

✓ The Outback Series has sold more than 20,000 copies in Finland so far!

✓ An alternative to police procedurals – crimes as seen from the perspective of local people caught up in them

✓ The Outback Series has been compared to the TV series Fargo and the author has been hailed as the Finnish Jens Lapidus!

✓ Just Republic Oy has optioned the TV rights to The Outback Series!

Muonio, a place where to live and a place where to die.

Janita left the Muonio night to return home with a new love of her life. Nine hours later, she finds it hard to remember what it was about him that she fell in love with. But today, the mild aftertaste of a love adventure turns promisingly sweet.

Janita, aged 27, has been living out of control and has accumulated debts to every second person in Muonio. All that’s left is her own house with a backyard, next to which lives an old misanthrope called Odd. Despite the fiendish neighbour, Janita’s nocturnal chosen one offers to buy Janita’s house out of the blue. So all is for the better – or it would be if the property inspection wouldn’t produce a corpse as a by-product – and if Odd stayed on his own property. 

In Joona Keskitalo’s The Outback Series, local communities across Finland investigate crimes with their own strength and questionable means, and each book is an independent narrative with its own inimitable characters.

Also available:

The Outback Series #1: The Island Torn Apart

Korppoo: a place where many have died. It’s a beautiful place – serene, a little piece of paradise. A place where people offer apple pie to passers-by and lend their tractor to their neighbors. Where everyone greets each other, joys are shared and grudges are borne forever. Then, Jennifer from Helsinki buys a guest marina on the island and brings death with her.

Empty boats drift on the sea and a feeling of unease spreads among the islanders. Are these strange events just chance, or is everything somehow linked to Jennifer’s high-flying plans? Or is it the three Russians snapping up properties in the area at an ever-faster pace?

The Island Torn Apart promises the reader at least one thing – when the earth’s crust tears, things will be revealed that no one would have dared to dig out.

The Outback Series #1: The Swamp that Sank

17-year-old Maria would rather be dead than spend the evening at home with her family, waiting for information on whether the Kaski family will get a permit from the municipality to establish a competing gas station right next to theirs. When she manages to sneak onto the village road, the road brings her a Volvo Amazon and in it a forbidden fruit – Teemu Kaski, youngest of the Kaski siblings. The next morning, Maria remembers the taste of alcohol, the back seat of the car, Teemu, and her father’s rage. But not why she is covered in blood.

The events from years ago haunt Maria after she returns from prison to her home village of Revonlahti. The villagers do not celebrate her homecoming, and when new bodies are found in a nearby swamp, Maria is once again forced to try and find out what really happened.

PAKENE ENNEN AAMUA
Otava, December 2023, 282 pp.

KÄÄRMEIDEN MAA
Otava, December 2022, 364 pp.

ONNELLISTEN SAARI
Otava, January 2022, 396 pp.

Reading material:
English synopses (books #1–#3)
English sample (books #1 and #2)
Finnish editions

Ronja Vaara Series #4: The Cracked Facade

Eeva Louko

The Ronja Vaara crime series, which has captivated readers, returns to Lauttasaari.

✓ The Ronja Vaara series has sold over 50,000 copies in Finland!

✓ Rights for the series have been sold to 5 territories!

The remains of a body are found under the floor of a hospital undergoing renovations in Helsinki. At the same time, a murder takes place in an estate known as Lauttasaari Young Economists’ Houses. Inspector Anton Koivu investigates both cases and, as the investigation progresses, surprising connections between them are revealed.

Journalist Ronja Vaara is interested in the murder because her mother, who has returned to Finland, knew people connected to the case in her youth. Ronja is puzzled by her mother’s strange behaviour: the woman’s carefully maintained front is cracking. Is she hiding something?

The popular Ronja Vaara series is addictive with surprising plot twists and endearing depictions of human relationships.

Also available:

Ronja Vaara #1: Murder on the Isle of Bliss
After living abroad for many years, thirty-something Ronja returns to her childhood home in Lauttasaari, Helsinki after her father is found murdered by the seaside. Welcoming her back are a group of old friends and the young police officer assigned to the case who does not seem to be doing his work properly. Using the skills she’s learned from working as a journalist, Ronja starts investigating herself.

Ronja Vaara #2: Land of Serpents
When the body of a young woman is found on Käärmesaari (Serpent Island) near Helsinki, Ronja’s new boss at the local newspaper senses an opportunity to make the newspaper the prime source for any information on the case. Reluctantly, Ronja contacts the chief investigator Anton Koivu, who is surprisingly willing to leak confidential information to Ronja – if she does him a favor in return. Soon, another death shocks the people of Lauttasaari and a surprising guest from the past throws the investigation off balance.

Ronja Vaara #3: Flee Before the Dawn
Ronja, Milla and Ansku together with their partners decide on a weekend getaway on the island of the historical Bengtskär lighthouse to enjoy time in the sauna and relax. Milla also wants to introduce her new partner, a celebrity businessman. The group barely has time to raise a toast before the mini getaway turns into a big nightmare. An autumn storm wreaks havoc, and Milla is missing as the women are meant to go to the sauna. The storm makes searching for Milla hard and cuts off the connection to the mainland. As the night advances, it becomes painfully clear that Milla’s disappearance is only the beginning.

VAPAHTAJA
WSOY, August 2023, 366 pp.

HÄVÄISTYT
WSOY, August 2022, 398 pp.

VAIETTU
WSOY, May 2021, 402 pp.

HYVITYS
WSOY, January 2020, 356 pp.

VERIVELKA
WSOY, May 2019, 408 pp.

Reading material:
English synopsis for book #6
English samples and synopses of books #1–#5
German editions (books #1–#4)
French editions (books #1–#3)
Series presentation
Finnish editions

River Delta Series

Arttu Tuominen

Henning Mankell meets Stephen King! Arttu Tuominen’s unique human touch and excellence in depicting characters combined with shocking horror elements brings originality to Nordic Noir.

✓ Arttu Tuominen is a Palle Rosenkrantz Prize-winning and a Spiegel Bestselling author! He was shortlisted for the Glass Key Awards 2021, a nominee Book Beat Finland’s Best Finnish Crime Author 2021–2023 and won the ‘Clue of the Year’ Crime Novel of the Year Award 2020!

✓ The River Delta series has been sold to 7 territories!

✓ Close to 230,000 copies sold in Finland!

✓ Each novel can be read as a standalone

The River Delta series is set in the city of Pori by the Gulf of Bothnia and focuses on a Finnish police unit that has to solve crimes that force them to consider their own acts and values. In turn, each of the officers of the unit is centered in the narration, having to face their own ghosts from the past. The River Delta series has seen commercial success and garnered praise from readers and critics alike, both at home and abroad. Each novel can be read as a standalone.

Books in the River Delta series:

River Delta #1: The Oath
A touching and engaging crime novel about secrets and guilt. Commissioner Jari Paloviita works on a murder case where the prime suspect is an old friend he feels indebted to.

River Delta #2: Jeopardy
The grenade attack on the restaurant claims casualties – and at the same time threatens to expose Chief Commissioner Henrik Oksman’s life-long secret.

River Delta #3: Silenced
Pori police detectives Jari Paloviita, Linda Toivonen and Henrik Oksman are faced with an exceptionally cruel series of crimes against elderly citizens. Soon they are dealing with international crime, and one of the taboos of the Finnish war story is connected to the investigation.

River Delta #4: Shamed
An investigation into a girl’s murder takes the police into the world of predators hiding on the Internet and becomes personal for Senior constable Linda Toivonen, whose daughter knew the young victim.

River Delta #5: The Liberator

The charred body of a man is discovered on a sports field in Pori. Suspicions are directed at a group of young adults known to have harassed rough sleepers in the past. When a second arson attack is caught on CCTV, the Pori police are forced to take the attacks seriously as rumours on the street talk of a ‘liberator’ offering the wretched eternal life and freedom from pain.

River Delta #6: The Stager

A family is watching TV together on a remote forest farm. What could be more idyllic? Except that they have all been killed and embalmed. Soon, another family is found, equally immortalized. Henrik Oksman, Jari Paloviita and Linda Toivonen of the Pori criminal police unit, under the leadership of Susanna Manner, quickly realize there’s a serial killer on the move who finds the presentation of the victims more important than the murders themselves. The police will find out they too have roles written for them in this cruel play. Will everyone make it to the end of the show?

Reading material:
Swedish manuscript
English sample and synopsis
Synopses of book #2 and book #3

The Last Word

Anne Hietanen, Michaela von Kügelgen

The Last Word is a novel about family, honour and keeping up appearances – at any cost.

✓ First installment in a new Helsinki Noir crime trilogy by renowned journalist-writer team

✓ For fans of Lars Kepler – with a softer twist

✓ Rights to Helsinki Noir Series sold in pre-empts in Denmark and Sweden

✓ Publication of The Last Word tentatively planned for 2026

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Swedish manuscript

Summer at Villa Hilda

Michaela von Kügelgen

Many people dream of a second chance in life, but how many dare to take it?

✓ For fans of experiencing romance and hardships through people of different ages, a story set in the beautiful Swedish archipelago, told with warmth and humor

✓ Mamma Mia vibes on a remote Swedish island

✓ The latest novel by the Finland-Swedish author and journalist!

Far out in the Stockholm archipelago lies the island of Halsterö. Journalist Thomas and former celebrity chef Louise travel there to work at the Villa Hilda guesthouse. They are both broken after many setbacks and are hoping for a fresh start. But setting up a summer paradise is not as easy as one might think, not even on the idyllic Halsterö island.

One day Louise stumbles across a collection of old love letters. Who wrote them, and what stories does Villa Hilda hide in its dusty attic? And how will Thomas manage to take care of his dementia-stricken mother while setting up an archipelago guesthouse?

Summer at Villa Hilda is about how difficult it is to be human among other people, but also about how, with the help of others, one can find one’s way back to life.

This novel is the first part of the Villa Hilda series and will be published in June 2025. The following titles will concentrate on the people living on the picturesque Halsterö island and will tentatively be published in February 2026 and September 2026.

Villa Hilda #2 synopsis

Even as a child, Sanne had a plan: leave Halsterö and never return. She has lived in the center of Stockholm for many years, but longs to go even further away. When she snags her dream job in Oslo, she sees her chance to start over.

But in February, just before the move, her mother Birgit falls seriously ill, and Sanne is forced to return to Halsterö where she grew up. She and her son Max move into her childhood home, and everything she has worked so hard for slips through her fingers. During her long weeks on the island with Birgit, who is getting worse, she realizes that the archipelago has changed since her childhood – it is fading away, just like her dreams seem to do.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Cotton Candy Dilemma

Ulla Onerva

Let the romantic rebellion begin!

✓ A new, fresh feel-good series about romance and literature

✓ Inspired by the timeless classics from Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë

✓ For the fans of Emily Henry, Holly Bourne, and Ali Hazelwood

A witty feel-good novel about Emma, named after Jane Austen’s heroine, who defends romantic literature but is drawn to an insufferable hater of romance.

Emma’s first love has left her at the school dance and her feelings for her ex-boyfriend have not completely faded by the start of senior year. Instead of pining, Emma immerses herself in romance books, even though the rest of the world seems to despise her favourite genre.

When a morose writer publishes a seething critique of romance and feel-good literature in a magazine and the school curriculum does not include romantic titles, Emma revolts. She sets up the Club of Quirky Romantics, a group dedicated to improving the appreciation of romance literature and dispelling the stigma associated with reading romance. It’s no easy task, as the circle is fueled by hate and love alike, and Emma finds herself in a worse mess than the heroines of her favourite romance novels.

Ulla Onerva’s debut novel Cotton Candy Dilemma is the first title in The Quirky Romantics Series, a humorous commercial trilogy that cleverly weaves the romantic classics of Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë into the modern day. The trilogy is perfect for anyone who refuses to hide their love of romance books!

The Quirky Romantics Series will continue with book #2 in February 2026 and book #3 in February 2027 (on Valentine’s Day).

KAHDEN VEREN TYTÄR
Otava, August 2024, 509 pp.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Daughter of Two Bloods

S. K. Rostedt

A debut enemies-to-lovers romantasy novel oozing with fae, demons, and hot romance.

✓ French rights to this spicy enemies-to-lovers romantasy were secured by ROBERT LAFFONT “R” at auction!

✓ Winner of the Best Book of the Year Award of 2024 by Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, the biggest bookstore chain in Finland!

✓ Chosen by the readers as one of the Top 100 Finnish books of the 21st century!

✓ For fans of Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yattos, Victoria Aveyard, and Jennifer L. Armentrout

Remena is a land where humans and fae coexist, seemingly on equal terms. The elves who control magic live in their own territory in Keto under the authority of an elven ruler, even though the royalty of Remena is human. Since the fierce demons were banished to Tuoni at the end of the demon wars fought a thousand years ago, Remena has lived in peace… but the stirrings of danger loom on the horizon.

Moorna is a 21-year-old half-breed whose life as an escort to the capital’s aristocracy is harrowing. She wants to pay off her escort debt as quickly as possible and return home with her friend Malkra to live a life free from discrimination. When Moorna accidentally stumbles upon the annoyingly handsome fae, Caidas, she is torn from all that is familiar and safe, and quickly learns that nothing is as it seems.

Finland’s first romantasy continues to dominate the bestseller charts while the author is currently working on the next books of the series.

VAPAAHERRATAR
Tammi, January 2024, 441 pp.

HAKOISTEN ANNA
Tammi, April 2022, 384 pp.

Reading material:
English synopses (books #1–#3)
English sample (book #1)
Finnish editions (books #1–#2)

Amelie of Haga Manor

Riikka-Maria Rosenberg

The sensual Ladies of Haga Manor series culminates in Amelie’s story along the twists and turns of the second half of the 19th century.

✓ The final chapter of The Ladies of Haga Manor trilogy, detailing the fast changes in Finnish society and the life of the local nobility

✓ The series has sold close to 40,000 copies in Finland!

Love doesn’t ask for permission.

It is the summer of 1856. Amelie can’t help falling deeply in love when she meets Hans Gustaf Boije af Gennäs, Baron of Haga Manor. Many consider Amelie as too modest for the heir of the estate, but the lovers are determined to have each other.

In Haga, the inexperienced bride faces the joys and responsibilities of marriage. Soon, the world around them changes as famine strikes and makes it clear that the fields alone cannot feed a nation. The estate’s new dairy school thrives, but Amelie’s own life is overshadowed by an illness creeping into the family, something about which one must be kept quiet. Is her dream of happiness still possible?

Also available:

Ladies of Haga Manor #1: Anna of Haga Manor

Anna of Haga Manor is an enchantingly sensuous historical novel that transports the reader to 18th century Finland, then part of Sweden, and into the middle of a love story.

Anna Magdalena Lilliebrunn, a noblewoman approaching her forties, has a stain on her reputation and the role of an old maid looms in her future. Everything is about to change, however, as the notoriously hot-tempered officer Karl Gustaf Uggla from the neighboring manor is chosen to be Anna’s husband.

At the Haga Manor, Anna is met by a frigid atmosphere. The reserved relatives and her husband’s lover make sure that the new daughter-in-law will neither feel at home nor become lady of the house. Will the tough and self-willed Anna be capable of living in the manner that she believes in?

Anna of Haga Manor is the masterful opening chapter of a new historical novel series, The Ladies of Haga Manor, which is based on thorough research on the lives and fates of real women who lived at the real Haga manor. The ambience of the past is expertly captured and the reader will want to savour every word.

Ladies of Haga Manor #2: The Baroness of Haga Manor

How much can love endure?

It is the autumn of 1790. Baroness Helena von Burghausen receives her husband Erik Leijonhufvud home from the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. Her husband has changed, his joy and happiness are gone. When Erik buys Haga Manor from the lush lands of Häme/Tavastland, Helena puts all of her hopes on a new beginning. She craves love, just as her son Axel and daughters Louise, Erica, Margaret, and Hedda crave their father’s attention.

But there are already black clouds in the eastern sky: the Finnish War is coming and will soon spread its tentacles to every part and estate of the country.

Reading material:
Full English PDF of book #1
English synopses of books #1–#3
Swedish edition
Series presentation

Earthborn #1: Daughter of Earth

Ann-Catrin Mattsson

What if Outlander, A Discovery of Witches, and the Brothers Grimm had a wild night out and birthed a rebellious and utterly irresistible love child?

✓ #1 on the Swedish Fantasy Council’s rank of top fantasy series in 2024

✓ Awarded Series of the Year 2023 and Debut of the Year 2022 by Sweden’s Fantasy Chamber!

✓ For fans of Juliet Marillier, Madeline Miller, and Rebecca Ross

The year is 1649, and war ravages Europe. In occupied Ireland, we meet Ailea, a young woman whose clairvoyance evokes both envy and fear. Compelled to seek refuge in Scotland with her family, Ailea’s path crosses with Magy Cullane, a sage woman with connections to the enigmatic Order. Thus does Ailea plunge into a realm of intrigue and millennia-old secrets.

Meanwhile, on the continent, in the Italian city of Bologna, the young hot-tempered soldier Roderic begins his military training at the war school. Guided by the charismatic master Muccio, Roderic is honed for battle, but is he truly prepared for the grim reality of war? After stumbling upon a mysterious necklace in the mountains, a fair-haired girl begins to haunt his dreams – Ailea. A timeless bond, stretching across centuries, unbreakable even by death.

In the distance, dark forces begin to stir, as a secret brotherhood known as The Summoned seek a prophetess, a vessel of ancient blood, to fulfill their plans. Driven by an obsession to overthrow the throne and mold the world to their whims, they spare no means to achieve their goals. But what secrets lurk in the shadows, and what is their true plan for Ailea? Both Ailea and Roderic must confront their pasts and the menacing forces threatening to destroy all they hold dear.

Also available:

Earthborn #2: Night of Omen

The year is 1655. Ailea is to be taught the mystical teachings at the Order’s secret school. It is here she becomes aware of her predestined fate, to marry the Sicilian prince, Aaron.

Earthborn #3: Legacy from the East

The Order tightens its grip around Ailea, but she continues stubbornly to resist. However, the price for freedom from her own fate is devastatingly high.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition
Italian edition
Norwegian edition

The Investigations of a Certain Cat

Katja Kettu

Katja Kettu’s stunning novel spins through ages whilst surrendering to the wilderness of nature and the deep yearning for offspring.

✓  A fascinating combination of autofiction and elements of magical realism!

✓  A critical success, a novel in which the power of words brings justice to the world, by one of Finland’s most internationally acclaimed authors!

✓  Rights sold to 11 territories!

✓  Katja Kettu’s works have been sold to 24 territories!

Can one find solace and meaning in life from the past once the future no longer exists?

An Author has a miscarriage and loses their ability to speak and write. From the Investigative Bureau of Heavens, a Detective is sent to the scene, but something goes awry. Soon, in the corner of the room, there appears Cat who starts examining a mysterious diary that once belonged to the Author’s Great Grandmother.

When a new life has been lost, the Author turns their gaze to the past and to the age-old words of creation in the old Finnish outskirts. The one who knows them, Great Grandmother, has the power of healers. The Great Grandmother’s diary sheds light on birth and death, love towards children, and the strength of heritage in one’s blood.

Combining autofiction and elements of magical realism, Katja Kettu’s latest novel also sheds light on the history of the Finnish frontiers.

VIIMEINEN YHTEINEN LEIKKI
Otava, August 2024, 411 pp. 

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Our Last Game

Riikka Pulkkinen

An ingeniously fascinating novel about the power of medicine, friendship and a person’s desire to find a cure for life

✓ The eighth novel by Riikka Pulkkinen, who is a shining star in Finnish literature, an award-winning and bestselling author with international publishers in 19 territories!

✓ World English rights Riikka Pulkkinen’s earlier novel The Enchantment sold to Scribe for publication in 2025!

Eelis says he’s going to the emergency room for dizziness, but then disappears without a trace. His wife Mai is at wit’s end until a woman who knows Eelis appears at the door, bearing memories of Eelis’s and her childhood – and the things that happened to them.

The two women go on a road trip that leads them to gas stations, the wedding suite of an airport hotel, and a hospital where children once played Love and Death at summer camps. Our Last Game is a wonderful novel about a person’s desire to find a cure, not only for diseases but also for life.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
German sample
Finnish edition
Full English translation coming soon

The Enchantment

Riikka Pulkkinen

This shiningly beautiful novel is an autopsy of girlhood and power.

✓ Riikka Pulkkinen is a shining star in Finnish literature, an award-winning and bestselling author with international publishers in 19 territories!

✓ A literary masterpiece with topical themes: What’s the difference between identity and projection and what image of ourselves do we allow others to see, in real life and online?

✓ Selected as one of the best books of 2022 by Suomen Kuvalehti magazine!

✓ World English rights sold to Scribe for publication in 2025!

Philippa Laakso, aged seventeen, is found dead in her yard at home. Nothing suggests a crime, and everyone who knew her is certain she wasn’t suicidal. On the other hand, all who knew her seem to hold a differing view of her. The investigation sees them being interviewed, but behind every view and story is Philippa’s influence. She still has the people around her in a sharp grip: her friend, ex-boyfriend, teacher, neighbors. 

Riikka Pulkkinen’s anticipated novel examines the power and comfort of make-believe and the thin line between love and play. Every character in the novel sees Philippa in his or her own way, as a mirror for fantasizing, anger, aspirations, comfort, and freedom, and uses their perceived image of Philippa to their own ends.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Hyena Days

Saara Turunen

Is it possible to have a child and retain one’s own identity?

✓  The fourth novel by the award-winning author, playwright and director!

✓  For readers of Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti

✓  More than 11,000 copies in Finland!

✓  Saara Turunen’s works have been translated into 16 languages!

Hyena Days is a precise and straightforward story about childlessness and the contradictory nature of having a child. It depicts the hopes for a child and the unpredictability of procreation, the shame related to one’s body, and the demands placed on the female body. The novel delves into a discussion of compatibility between artistry and motherhood but, above all, it depicts the physical dimension of human life.

Turunen handles the subject matter of the novel in a wistful and a light manner. The short and bright sentences paint a precise portrait of life’s many contradictions, of dreams and their becoming fulfilled in a different way than imagined. The narration flows effortlessly and transports the reader to a fascinating world full of both personal and universal questions.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Swedish edition

How We Met Your Mother

Kaj Korkea-aho

An autobiographical story about a gay couple’s journey to co-parenting

✓ Nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize!

✓ The latest work from the award-winning author, playwright and columnist

✓ Kaj Korkea-aho’s works have been translated into 7 languages and nominated for the Runeberg Prize and the Nordic Council Literature Prize!

After eight years together, Kaj and Niko, living in Helsinki, decide to try to become parents. They start “dating” women, but the search for a co-parent seems impossible at first. How do you get to the place where you can trust a complete stranger? Whose sperm cells should be used? How do you plan the future of such an unconventional family in a society that is still coded heterosexually?

Kaj Korkea-aho’s autobiographical text about how three parents had a child is irresistibly touching, painful, and humorous. It bears traces of all forms of expression mastered by Korkea-aho – novel, podcast, blog, and drama – and can also be used as a kind of handbook for others in the same life situation. The book grabs the reader like a baby with its little hand and doesn’t let go until the book has been finished and we witness the wonder of life through their eyes.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

A Disobedient Girl

Sara Al Husaini

An honest and authentic debut novel by the winner of the Refugee Woman of the Year Award, a novel that shakes the reader to their core

✓  Winner of the BookBeat Newcomer of the Year Award and the Young Aleksis Award!

✓  Nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize of 2023 and the Savonia Prize of 2023!

✓  More than 30,000 copies sold in Finland!

✓  A story of an Arab woman who wants to live freely, change the world, and advance human rights of girls

A mother is escorting her daughter, trembling with fear, to the wedding suite door. This is what she’s been raised for ever since she was little, kept in wrapping paper like a precious sweet. This is the reason why she was brought back from Finland to Iraq.

“You shouldn’t have abandoned the headscarf”, her siblings say. “He is your husband now”, her mother says.

A Disobedient Girl is an astonishingly honest and authentic story about the history of subjugating and silencing women, about abandoning one’s faith, honour violence, forced marriage, Islamic purity culture, the price of freedom, and the desperate desire for the right to self-determination. Above all, it is about a fearless woman who wants to survive and change the world.

Reading material:
Finnish edition
Full English translation

The Logbook of Love

Elina Hirvonen

What’s love all about? In Elina Hirvonen´s new novel, The Logbook of Love, conversations about love form a sea of connections among people from wildly different backgrounds and places.

✓  A novel for fans of Rachel Cusk, Jenny Offill and Deborah Levy

✓  Elina Hirvonen’s debut novel When I Forgot was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize of 2005 – and made the front page of The New York Times Book Review

✓  In 2023, Elina Hirvonen received the WSOY Literary Foundation Award, recognizing the artistic independence and high standards of her writing

✓  Full English manuscript available! World Arabic rights sold!

What’s love all about?

When Elina Hirvonen’s literary debut When I Forgot (Tin House/Portobello Books) was published in English, it made the cover of the New York Times Book Review in 2009 – extremely rare for a first novel in translation. Fast forward to 2023, and the award-winning author and filmmaker’s newest novel Rakkauksien lokikirja (“The Logbook of Love”) has been published in Finnish to rave reviews.

The first in a trilogy, The Logbook of Love takes readers on a compelling journey into the restorative powers of love from Finland to Zambia, Iraq, Afghanistan and points further afield.

In Helsinki, a city silenced by the global pandemic, the narrator tries to ward off the darkness as she walks through the empty streets by gathering people’s stories of love. Searching for meaning, hope and joy, she meets with friends and strangers, moves between the past and present, shifts from country to country. Everywhere she goes, she talks with others about love: romantic love, the love for justice and human rights, marital love, parental love, the love that can bind friends from different cultures and backgrounds – and the love that, no matter how powerful it is, sometimes fails to bridge the gaps between people.

“That fall I began to fear my growing sense of depression would take away my ability to find meaning and I would no longer be able to write. For if I lose written words, what will I be left with? As I search for something that feels important, the word ‘love’ comes to mind. Could I ward off my dark thoughts by writing about love in all of its forms? What are all the things that love could be in this world? As darkness falls, I search for light by opening the file I’ve saved as ‘The Logbook of Love.’”

The trilogy will continue in 2026 with book #2, The Logbook of Beauty, and book #3, The Logbook of Space to follow in 2028.
In The Logbook of Beauty, the present days when the greatest number of children since World War II live amidst violent conflicts bring the narrator’s own memories of childhood and adolescence violence back to her mind.
The last part, The Logbook of Space, will deal with how time passes for humans and the world.

Reading material:
English edition
Finnish edition

My Friend Natalia

Laura Lindstedt

A bold and brave novel about a young woman’s sexuality, the power of narration, and identity.

✓  International bestseller – Laura Lindstedt’s books have been translated into 18 languages!

✓ Together with author Sinikka Vuola, she has authored 101 Ways to Kill Your Husband, which has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize of 2024

✓ Laura Lindstedt’s previous novel Oneiron won the Finlandia Prize of 2015 and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize of 2017

Natalia cannot stop thinking about sex.

Narrated by an unnamed, ungendered therapist who leaps at the chance to employ their most experimental methods, My Friend Natalia offers a gripping examination of the power dynamics always present but rarely ever spoken about in therapy. 

At first, Natalia seems to play along with the rules of therapy. She partakes in the therapist’s pain-displacement exercises, word games, and even produces a few anatomical illustrations. She muses on the art of pornography, and boldly examines seminal figures like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, about whom she poses the question, “Did Jean-Paul consider Simone a woman at all? Or was she nothing but a pencil sharpener?” 

By combining philosophy and literature, repressed childhood memories and explicitly unrepressed erotic experiences, the sessions quickly shed all inhibitions. Still, the therapist can’t help but wonder: What does Natalia really want?

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Where Four Roads Meet

Tommi Kinnunen

A delicately perceptive novel about people who build their dreams to forbidden heights

✓  Winner of the Best Book of 2014 Prize by the Grand Finnish Journalism Prize, the Young Aleksis Award 2015, the Thank You for the Book Medal of 2015, and the Giuseppe Acerbi Prize of 2023!

✓  Nominated for the Finlandia Prize and the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize! Shortlisted for the Europese Literatuurprijs of 2016!

✓  Rights sold to 22 territories!

✓  Close to 100,000 copies sold in Finland!

A young midwife named Maria arouses suspicion among the villagers. Diligently taking care of difficult childbirths, she finally gains the respect she craves for, but fails to notice that she has become a prisoner of her own longing.

Maria’s daughter Lahja, born out of wedlock, wants to incorporate into her own life all that her mother has rejected as ballast. A refugee returning to the north scorched by war, she yearns for contact in her marriage, while her husband, war hero Onni, wanders the cities, seeking fleeting, forbidden moments of happiness.

Decades later, Kaarina is decorating her mother-in-law Lahja’s house, now devoid of dreams, and wants to tear down what others have built to remain silent.

PAHAN VERKKO
Tammi, 2020, 448 pp.

KAUNA
Tammi, 2021, 430 pp.

LOUKKO
Tammi, 2022, 358 pp.

Reading material:
English editions

Jessica Niemi series

Max Seeck

New York Times Bestselling and Spiegel Bestselling series

✓  A New York Times Bestseller!

✓  International sensation! Sold to 40 countries and Hollywood!

✓ Book #3 The Last Grudge won the Glass Key Award of 2023!

✓ TV series in development by Greg Silverman/Stampede Ventures!

✓  Max Seeck’s books have sold over 400,000 copies in Finland!

Book #1: The Witch Hunter
Detective Jessica Niemi is called to investigate an unordinary murder case. The wife of a famous writer, Roger Koponen, seems to have been killed in a bizarre ritual. As more ritual murders occur, it becomes obvious that Jessica is after a serial killer. But the murders are not random – they follow a pattern taken from Roger’s bestselling trilogy. Has a fan gone mad, or is this case more personal?

Book #2: The Ice Coven
Detective Jessica Niemi and her team have a new mystery on the table: a young woman’s corpse has been found on an icy beach, and two famous Instagram influencers have gone missing at the same time. While following the clues that are hidden deeply in Instagram Jessica struggles to keep her head clear. She keeps having repeating nightmares about her mother. And she has a feeling that something really awful is approaching her from the darkness…

Book #3: The Last Grudge
Prominent business executive Eliel Zetterborg is found brutally murdered in his home in Helsinki. The company he led has just announced drastic cutbacks and Zetterborg gained hundreds of enemies and death threats in the process. But the murder motive becomes less clear, when the police finds out that the murderer had other targets as well. As Jessica Niemi suffers from a mental breakdown after her encounter with the witch coven, Jusuf gets a chance to lead the investigations and prove his skills as a police officer, while helping Jessica battle her demons that seem to be getting nearer and nearer…

Book #4: Ghost Island
Jessica Niemi travels to a remote island in the Åland archipelago, hoping to be left alone. At the same time, three elderly visitors, the remaining ‘birds of spring’ – former refugees who fled Finland as children during World War II and lived together for a few months in an orphanage on the island – arrive on the island. When one of the ‘birds of spring’ is found dead and Jessica learns about two other deaths also connected to the orphanage, Jessica can’t be sure if she’s facing a killer or— like a legend says—the ghost of Maija, a girl in a blue coat who would stand on the pier, looking out at the dark water until disappearing one night, never to be seen again. Uncertain what is real and what is not, Jessica desperately searches for answers that she hopes will stop the murders and finally silence her own demons once and for all…

KOTKA
Otava, April 2024, 363pp.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

Leo Koski series

Tuomas Oskari aka Tuomas Niskakangas

A fast-paced and high-stakes international thriller series!

✓ For fans of Dan Brown and David Baldacci

✓  Inspired by the author’s years in Washington, D.C. as the US correspondent for the largest newspaper in Finland.

✓  Book #1 was chosen as BookBeat Newcomer of the Year 2021!

Perfect for anyone looking for a series of smart and fast-paced thrillers, the Leo Koski series is a trilogy of independent titles where the main character is Leo Koski, the young Finnish Prime Minister.

Books in the Leo Koski series:

Leo Koski #1: Their Turn to Burn
A fast-paced political thriller taking place over the course of 25 hours. An economic crisis is dividing Finland and young Prime Minister Leo Koski is caught in a dangerous power play where the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Leo Koski #2: The Act of Gladius
The refugee crisis following the economic collapse is pushing tensions in Europe to the extreme. Former Finnish Prime Minister Leo Koski thinks he is an insignificant pensioner at the age of 36, but soon finds himself in the center of a dangerous undercover mission to stop a far-rights extremist group – but who is pulling the strings?

Leo Koski #3: The Eagle
As the populist US president Chester Tyler is withdrawing the United States from NATO, former Prime Minister Leo Koski is forced to return to the White House for one more meeting. Things unravel when the president is poisoned. Koski is faced with a horrible choice between his daughter’s life and the security of Europe. With the New York Times reporter Ashley Pegula by his side, Koski has only a few hours to find out who poisoned the president. And why?

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

In Your Shadow

Martta Kaukonen

The great post-#MeToo thriller

✓ A gripping page-turner about past trauma and the hunger for justice!

✓ Yomi Adegoke’s The List meets Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot

✓ A new thriller by the internationally bestselling author Martta Kaukonen, whose debut Follow the Butterfly has been sold to 16 territories, including UK & US!

✓ You can trust no one in this psychological thriller full of unexpected twist by “Finland’s Gillian Flynn” !

The harassment of women should be kept silent no longer, a small group of activists declares and demands justice. But at what price?

When #metoo spread through the media like wildfire, many victims of harassment felt hopeful – now we can talk about it, now the change begins. But the fire died, and things did not change. Traumas did not disappear, and justice is yet to come.

Sixty-year-old Anne hosts meetings for a group of people who will not be silenced. They start rehearsing a performance as an apology to the victims of harassment. Among them are acclaimed actress Minna who has spoken about her experiences publicly, former straight-A student Suvi who doesn’t want to leave her home anymore out of fear, and performance artist Roni who’s looking to upgrade his feminism from words to actions. Can they trust each other? Are they driven by a desire for justice or a wish for revenge?

Reading material:
English editions books 1-11
German editions 1-16
English samples & synopses books 12-16

Maria Kallio series

Leena Lehtolainen

Leena Lehtolainen has sold over 2,5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 30 languages!

✓  Maria Kallio turned into an international TV series, sold to 10 territories and counting, third season in production in 2024!

✓  The New York Times Nordic Noir Guide recommends Maria Kallio series!

✓  Finland’s bestselling female crime writer!

✓  English editions available for Maria Kallio books #1-11, published in the US by Amazon

Finland’s most popular crime series, the Maria Kallio mysteries, follows the career of a tough, down-to-earth and emotionally intelligent police officer who starts working in the Helsinki violent crimes unit. Every book centers around murder, but there are also elements of social issues, and Maria’s personal development is present throughout the series, as we follow her struggle to balance police work and motherhood.

The Maria Kallio series has been turned into an international TV series, the rights to which have been sold to 10 territories and counting! The series is produced by Jarowskij Finland and each episode is based on a Maria Kallio crime novel of the same name.

Book #16: A Crossing in the Darkness
The City of Espoo is being menaced by the Biris gang that steals designer clothing, phones, and jewelry from other youth. One night, one of the members is stabbed to death, in a case which seems clear. Maria’s unit is investigating while being threatened by a cut in funding.

Maria’s home feels empty as her children have left the nest. An acquaintance contacts Maria regarding sexual harassment, and Maria tries to help – but her intervention seems to make things worse. And as a boy goes missing from a children’s home and Biris threatens with revenge, Maria has her hands full.

Also available:
# 1: My First Murder
# 2: Her Enemy
# 3: Copper Heart
# 4: Snow Woman
# 5: Death Spiral
# 6: Fatal Headwind
# 7: Before I Go
# 8: Below the Surface
# 9: The Nightingale Murder
# 10: Derailed
# 11: Where Have All the Young Girls Gone
# 12: The Iron Triangle
# 13: A Stroke of Sadness
# 14: The End of Innocence
# 15: The Ripple Effect

International Sales of TV Series:
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom & Ireland, Italy & Italian Speaking Territories, Portugal & Portuguese speaking Territories, North America, Germany & German speaking Europe, Latin America, and Middle East.

KIIKKU
Otava, October 2022, 304 pp.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
German edition
Finnish edition

Paula Pihlaja series

A.M. Ollikainen

A fast-paced and addictive Nordic Noir series by the duo hailed as Finland’s Lars Kepler!

✓  A. M. Ollikainen is a pseudonym for the author duo Aki and Milla Ollikainen

✓  Cargo was the writers’ first novel together and the winner of a National Crime Novel Competition

✓  Rights sold in 15 languages!

Book #1: Cargo
A cargo container is found, washed up on the shore in Helsinki with a dead body inside.The property where the container is discovered, belongs to one of the most notorious businessmen in Finland. As Police Commissioner Paula Pihlaja begins to investigate the case, traces lead back to the businessman’s family, revealing decades of suspicious business ventures in Africa.

Meanwhile, Paula’s own personal life is shaken by old memories that are now surfacing following recent events.When she was younger, she had to give her baby up for adoption. The boy, her son, is now in his twenties and facing a murder charge. Not only is Paula tormented by her own guilt about the adoption, she is also worried about what will become of her son.

Book #2: Swing
An old woman is found hanged in a forest. Paula finds out that she had terminal cancer and had almost emptied her apartment, knowing to die soon. Her death is considered a suicide, but Paula is not satisfied with it. There is something wrong in the picture.

A famous mountain climber is found hanging above a seesaw in a playground. On the other end of the seesaw Paula finds sand that is far too fine to be natural – the same kind of sand that was found at the forest. Paula realizes that the victims have been forced to balance on a seesaw before death, fighting for their lives. Paula Pihlaja has barely started the investigation when a third body turns up – a teenage boy, at another playground, hanged. A serial killer is on the loose.

EHTOOLEHDON PAKOLAISET
Teos, 2014, 256 pp.

EHTOOLEHDON TUHO
Teos, 2015, 280 pp.

Reading material: 
English editions
Finnish editions

Sunset Grove Trilogy

Minna Lindgren

“A very funny detective story starring two elderly ladies with the combined age of about 180 and Miss Marple-esque tendency to solve crimes.”

✓  International TV Series in development and shooting by Aurora Studios!

✓  An international hit! Rights sold in 18 territories!

✓  Miss Marple meets The Golden Girls! For the fans of Richard Osman and A Man Called Otto by Fredrik Backman!

#1 Death in Sunset Grove

Who could imagine that anything illegal – whether it be suspicious deaths, thefts or the covert trading of medications – could happen in Sunset Grove retirement home? Its 90-year-old residents Siiri and Irma certainly can’t.

The lives of Siiri, Irma, and other Sunset Grove inhabitants are filled mostly with empty time punctuated by glasses of red wine, tram rides and funerals. Investigating the sudden strange occurrences at Sunset Grove, however, proves to be a more interesting pastime than playing cards with the ambassador and the woman in the wide-brimmed hat – not to mention the never-ending arts and crafts sessions, gym classes or accordion evenings (which the residents of the house attend mostly out of pity towards the employees).

#2 Escape from Sunset Grove

Sunset Grove retirement home turns into a kind of hell when it is taken over by foreign construction workers cursing fluently in Finnish. The noise is deafening, a hole appears in the wall, things disappear and residents have to use a portable toilet.

Residents Siiri, Irma and Anna-Liisa, all older than 90, decide to move into a shared apartment in the exotic neighbourhood of Hakaniemi. All three have their own habits and quirks, and life together isn’t entirely free of friction. The women also learn about the sad differences in quality with at-home assistance, and are forced to become familiar with terminal care and questions surrounding euthanasia.

Our heroes also can’t help looking into the suspicious plumbing project at Sunset Grove. As the mystery unfolds, they begin to find out that few people in this world have a fully clean record.

#3 The End of Sunset Grove

The final part of the trilogy marks a return to the retirement community. But the place no longer feels like home, and has turned into a state-funded, technology-driven pilot project in elderly care. The conclusion brings together characters lost along the way, and murky details are brought to light. Legal justice is also served – in unexpected ways. A natural, long-awaited death finally collects some, but still not all, of our main characters.

MARIAM
Otava, 2023, 450 pp.

HURMURIHERTTUA / ARABELLA
Otava, 2021, 384 pp.

KAMARINEITSYT / CHARLOTTA
Otava, 2020, 429 pp.

Reading material: 
English samples and synopses
Finnish editions
Series presentation

Silk Sisters #4: Eleonora

Sara Medberg

Glamor, the courtly life, beautiful dresses, and passion! Bridgerton meets Jane Austen’s Emma with Nordic heroines!

✓ Series rights sold in 6 territories and counting!

✓ Sara Medberg’s books have sold over 90,000 copies across all territories!

The Finnish Bridgerton!

The year is 1825, and the artist Eleonora Gray is struggling to make a name for herself in the spa town of Bath. When the Royal Society of Artists of England offer her a visit to the Butterfly Heights castle in Scania, her problem seems to be solved.

She heads for the mysterious castle everyone whispers about. Upon the arrival of Lady Mimosa, a relative of the castle’s owner, Eleonora has no more room for boredom. The ladies decide to plan a ball, where they shall capture the hearts of the local gentlemen.

Also available:

Book #1: Charlotta

Seamstress Charlotta Silke is looking for her own Mr. Darcy in 19th century Åbo. When Baron Ridderlöw of Starfire Manor hires Charlotta as a lady’s maid for her sister, both their lives change for good. Charlotta gets her hands on Jane Austen’s newly published Pride and Prejudice, which alters the way she sees her role as a woman. But the book’s ideas of modern love, marriage and early feminism are put to the test as the bitter war-torn Baron Ridderlöw becomes romantically interested in Charlotta. Can an ordinary lady’s maid have it all – a meaningful life and the man of her dreams?

Book #2: Arabella

A story about the mistress of Blackthorn Castle, Arabella Öhrnmarck. She becomes widowed after an unhappy marriage and travels home to Stockholm to be near the Royal Court. But something strange is going on. Mystical incidents and threatening situations keep occurring. It seems that someone is out to silence her. What secret are they searching for? Then, a fascinating English duke begins to court Arabella…

Book #3: Mariam

Mariam, the daughter of a highborn Persian lady and a Swedish tradesman, moves to Porvoo in the midst of the Finnish War and becomes the talk of the whole city. When her brother is arrested in Sweden, Mariam doesn’t hesitate in running to his aid. She’s read Jane Austen’s new novel Emma, whose independent heroine encourages Mariam to act. A mysterious baron promises to help her, but can she trust him? And why do his silvery eyes remind Mariam of something?

Upcoming books in the Silk Sisters series:

Book #5: The Unruly Baroness (working title) (2025)

Baroness Morgenstierne has decided not to let conventions rule her life! She arranges a contest for her hand, to find a husband. But when admirers besiege the baroness, things get more complicated than she had envisioned and there’s an unforeseen turn of events…

Book #6: The King’s Beloved (working title) (2026)

Oslo, Norway, anno 1817. Crown prince Carl Johan of Sweden appears at palace maid Mariette’s cottage. A diary has been found, secrets come to light, Mariette is transferred to the Stockholm court. But will she always only be a rich man’s mistress?

UMPIHANGESSA ALTTARILLE
Otava, October 2023, 336 pp.

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis for book #1
English sample for book #2
Finnish edition

A Downhill Wedding

Christmas Wedding Series #2

Jenni Multisilta

An uncontrollably funny and wonderfully mischievous romantic comedy about wedding preparations in the middle of Lapland – and about chaos.

✓  For readers of Alexandria Bellefleur, Sophie Kinsella and Casey McQuiston!

Jesse can’t wait to have Arttu as his husband. It’s not long until the perfect Christmas wedding of their dreams. His plan: Find the perfect gift and keep away from the wedding preparations. How it turns out: Lose the perfect gift in the fells and try to stop the groom from finding out about a small mistake that may have happened during the bachelor party…

In the second part of this entertaining romcom series, the lives of the soon-to-be wedded couple and Jesse’s siblings are also mixed up by a surprising life change made by their parents.

Also available: 

Book #1: Arctic Wedding Nightmare

Mila is a star vlogger, whose husband-to-be dumps her two weeks before the dream Christmas-time wedding of the century. For Mila, the idea of canceling the wedding is a disaster. And what’s even more important is to finish the wedding video series that her followers are eagerly waiting for!

To solve this, Mila persuades her former teenage crush to be her pretend fiancé. Soon Mila’s siblings, Jesse and Laura, also find themselves caught within the web of lies weaved by their sister.

The wedding preparations in beautiful Lapland start to resemble a nightmarish undercover operation. Will the lies hold until Christmas Eve? Will Santa Claus get kissed on the altar? For whom do the sleigh bells eventually ring?

Coming in Autumn 2025: 

Book #3: A Wedding Under the Palm Trees (Autumn 2025)

Mum and Mamma have invited their family and friends to spend Christmas at their new home in Gran Canaria. Laura finds out Sean is going to propose to her, and the vacation takes a nightmarish turn when she has to make big decisions about her future sooner than she would have thought.

Reading material:
English edition
Finnish edition

The Moonday Letters

Emmi Itäranta

A scifi mystery and a love story that bends space, time, myth and science.

✓  Third novel by internationally bestselling and award-winning author

✓  Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award of 2024 and the British Science Fiction Association Awards of 2023!

✓  Winner of the Tähtivaeltaja Award of 2021!

✓  English edition available, written by Emmi Itäranta and published by Titan Books!

The Moonday Letters has elements of clifi, elements of suspense, and feels Golden Age-y in its imagination of how space has been colonized in the wake of Earth’s transformation.

Lumi is an Earth-born healer whose Mars-born spouse Sol disappears unexpectedly on a work trip. As Lumi begins her quest to find Sol, she delves gradually deeper into Sol’s secrets – and her own.

While recalling her own path to becoming a healer under the guidance of her mysterious teacher Vivian, she discovers an underground environmental group called Stoneturners, which may have something to do with Sol’s disappearance. Lumi’s search takes her from the wealthy colonies of Mars to Earth that has been left a shadow of its former self due to vast environmental destruction. Gradually, she begins to understand that Sol’s fate may have been connected to her own for much longer than she thought.

Part space-age epistolary, part eco-thriller, The Moonday Letters is also a love story between two individuals from very different worlds.

Reading material:
English edition
Finnish edition

Memory of Water

Emmi Itäranta

A story of growing up, of the power of friendship – and, above all, undying hope in a wrecked world

✓  International hit: rights sold to over 25 territories!

✓  Winner of the Young Aleksis Prize of 2013 and the Kalevi Jäntti Prize of 2012!

✓  Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Golden Tentacle Award! Included on the Honor List of the Otherwise Award (formerly James Tiptree, Jr. Award)!

✓  International Feature film premiered in Finland in September 2022! Distribution in Germany, Italy, Sweden confirmed with more territories to come!

✓  Emmi Itäranta’s writing has been compared to that of Ursula K. Le Guin!

The story is set in a drought-ravaged, war-ridden future world where fresh water has become the privilege of a few and tea masters have been keepers of natural springs for centuries, Memory of Water tells the story of seventeen-year-old Noria, set to become the next tea master in her village. When her father dies, she finds herself alone with the dangerous responsibility of guarding a hidden spring that can save lives – or provoke people to kill.

As war spreads into her homeland, Noria’s loyalties are torn between keeping her duty and helping her dearest friend Sanja, whose family can barely survive on their water rations. Together the girls unearth knowledge about the past that has remained buried too long and begin to plan a journey to the Lost Lands, forbidden areas that might hold unexplored water resources.

Yet the web of the military is closing in on Noria’s secret. Sanja disappears mysteriously, and Noria is placed under house arrest. Knowing her own life is in danger, Noria must face a choice in order to secure the hidden information for others.

Reading material:
English edition
Finnish edition

The Core of the Sun

Johanna Sinisalo

From the queen of “Finnish weird,” a captivating and witty speculative satire of The Handmaid’s Tale-esque welfare state where women are either breeders or outcasts, addicts chase the elusive high of super-hot chili peppers, and one woman is searching for her missing sister.

✓  Rights sold to 12 territories!

✓  Winner of the Prometheus Award of 2017!

✓  Feature film in development in Los Angeles!

Set in an alternative historical present, in an “eusistocracy”—an extreme welfare state—that holds public health and social stability above all else, The Core of the Sun follows a young woman whose growing addiction to illegal chili peppers leads her on an adventure into a world where love, sex, and free will are all controlled by the state.

The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has bred a new human sub-species of receptive, submissive women, called eloi, for sex and procreation, while intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labor and sterilized. How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe? 

Johanna Sinisalo’s tautly told story of fight and flight is also a feisty, between-the-lines social polemic—a witty, inventive, and fiendishly engaging read.