Month: November 2022

Merja Mäki’s bestselling novel has been chosen among the six Finnish fiction titles with most international potential.

Before the Birds by Merja Mäki came out in January 2022, becoming instantly readers’ and reviewers’ favourite. The novel is set in year 1940, in the Finnish Winter War. A young woman called Alli is forced to leave her home in Karelia behind, as the land is lost to Soviet Union.

After an onerous trek across Finland to the western coast she needs not only to find a home in a new cultural environment but also face an unexpected, life-changing responsibility, come to terms with the complicated relationship with her own mother, and somehow, continue to dream. 

The jury stated about the novel:

“The novel tells a touching story about having to flee and becoming a stranger, about losing your home and possessions and having to settle in other people’s homes. […] It is a novel also for those not interested in historical or refugee stories – it is for everyone who has a home or close ones. […] In addition to depicting a refugee journey and collision of different cultures, the novel tells about blended families. […] The description of how the war affects individuals is topical everywhere, especially now. Even though you wouldn’t have to flee in freezing cold with cattle, losing your home is an experience it is easy to identify with.“

Before the Birds has already attracted the interest of international publishers: the Ukrainian rights were acquired by Astrolabe and earlier this week the Swedish rights by Historiska Media.

The Torch-bearer Prize will be awarded at the Tampere book festival in early December.

HLA’s authors have been awarded the prize for the three previous years in a row: last year, the prize was given to Matias Riikonen’s Matara, in 2020, the winner was Marisha Rasi-Koskinen’s  REC, and in 2019, Minna Rytisalo received it for her novel Mrs C.  In 2015, the prize was given to another HLA author, Finlandia Prize winner Anni Kytömäki for her debut novel Goldheart.

Merja Mäki’s bestselling novel Before the Birds, previously sold to Astrolabe in Ukraine, has been acquired by Historiska Media in Sweden.

Before the Birds by Merja Mäki came out in January 2022, becoming instantly readers’ and reviewers’ favourite. The novel is set in year 1940, in the Finnish Winter War. A young woman called Alli is forced to leave her home in Karelia behind, as the land is lost to Soviet Union.

After an onerous trek across Finland to the western coast she needs not only to find a home in a new cultural environment but also face an unexpected, life-changing responsibility, come to terms with the complicated relationship with her own mother, and somehow, continue to dream. 

A page-turning read, Before the Birds tells a universal story about what it feels to leave behind everything you hold dear, how to survive and live on.

“Mäki does such a vivid job leading the reader on the evacuees’ journey that one feels one is there oneself, freezing and feet covered in bloody blisters. […] The novel expands my understanding of what it means – and how it feels – to leave everything behind.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

“Before the Birds draws us in, putting us at the mercy of Lake Ladoga’s waves and the frigid winds of its shores. It violently jostles us into an icy sled ride under dark skies. It has our stomachs hollowing out in hunger. It forces us to continue persevering at the mercy of others without hope or any promise things will turn out for the better. And the book does all this with such force we are battered as we are swept along in the flow of events.”
– Kulttuuritoimitus culture magazine

Historiska Media is a Swedish publishing house with a strong focus on historical themes both in fiction and nonfiction; they are the publishers of, for example, Antony Beevor, Simon Scarrow, and Ewa Klingberg. This summer, Historiska Media was acquired by Bonnier.