Niina Mero’s successful debut The Death of Romance has now been sold to Calanish, who will publish the book in both Spanish and Catalan.
Calanish is a brand new imprint focusing on romance fiction from Obrador, an independent publisher based in Barcelona. The publisher, as it is stated on their website, desires to “awaken emotions and push them to the limit”, and is committed to doing it with “quality literature and captivating books”. No better home indeed for Mero’s book!
The Death of Romance has been praised, among other things, as “romantic entertainment to those who dread romantic entertainment”; published in 2019, it soon turned out to be the readers’ favourite. With close to 15,000 sold copies and glowing reviews, a new star had risen to the Finnish sky of commercial women’s fiction.
In the novel, Nora, the tattooed and very Finnish version of Bridget Jones, travels to Oxford to be soon swiped off her feet by the gothic atmosphere of Jane Eyre, the upper-class romance of Downton Abbey and the plotting and scheming known from British crime series. With no illusions about love but with masses of insight into English poetry, Nora soon stumbles on family secrets – and to her surprise also on English gentlemen who seem very able to distract her inquisitive mind.
The novel has been previously sold to Sekwa in Sweden, and strong interest from Germany and Central Europe assures us that more offers are coming soon.
Congratulations to the author!