Some exciting, exciting news has reached us from Russia: Eksmo has acquired the rights to publish Eva Frantz’s spooky ghost novel for the middle-grade readers, Raspberry Hill!
Eksmo is one of the largest publishing houses in Russia, whose publications take up almost the third of the entire market. It has become especially successful in science fiction and fantasy, as well as crime. Its authors is a beautiful collection of international prize winners (Pulitzer, Booker Prize and others), the most established Russian writers, as well as renowned authors of children’s literature.
Raspberry Hill (2018) was Frantz’s debut in children’s literature, which immediately gained success in Finland and a loyal fandom of young readers. Frantz gave a moving account on it in our Literature from Finland podcast episode ATMOSPHERES.
The book was awarded the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize in 2019 and encouraged a thematic sequel Queen of the Night, published in 2021. Raspberry Hill has been sold to 3 foreign territories so far (including World English), and Queen of the Night has been sold to Denmark and optioned in Great Britain for World English rights. The Russian deal was made with the help of our partners Livia Stoia Literary Agency.
Raspberry Hill tells a story about young Stina, who ends up in a castle-like sanatorium called Raspberry Hill. There, she befriends Ruben, who starts taking her on nightly adventures around the forbidden parts of the building. Little by little, Stina realises something is not quite right around there. The new stand-alone Queen of the Night continues in the genre of ghosts, old, spooky buildings and secrets of the past. In it, a boy called Viktor is wandering around the haunted opera house, trying to figure out whose uneasy spirit is seeking revenge for the wrongdoings of the past centuries.
The English translation of Raspberry Hill will be published soon by Pushkin Press.