Author Kari Hotakainen, one of Finland’s most prolific and famous authors, has just returned to the literary scene with a new novel, Pearl.
In Pearl, a childless couple goes on a mushroom-picking trip in the woods and runs into an elderly woman who seems very confused and can’t even remember her name. As they meet, everybody’s life suddenly gets speedier, bumpier, and more absurd than anyone could ever imagine.
Kari Hotakainen (Photo: Laura Malmivaara)
Pearl is a charming, humorous, and moving story, where tragic things attain a tone of warm, gentle comedy. If one loses control of one’s memories and life, what is there left to hold on to?
A fast-paced plot and on-the-spot dialogue will make anyone laugh out loud, whereas topical questions, reflected in a casual, yet poignant manner, will remind the reader that, in the end, only our humanity makes our lives worthwhile.
Pearl is being distributed in the Kesko group grocery shops, one of the leading distributors in Finland with over 1000 selling points. The first print run counts 35.000 copies and the project has the declared goal of boosting reading among the public by reaching readers as widely as possible.
Linnea Kuuluvainen‘s debut novel The Thick of the Forest has been turning heads and scoring favourable reviews since its release earlier this year. The latest glowing review comes from the Suomen Kuvalehti magazine, that states that “Linnea Kuuluvainen’s debut novel immediately rises to the top of the charts of Finnish speculative fiction.”
The Thick of the Forest (Metsän peitto, Gummerus 2024)
The review goes on to praise the structure of the book and how it places itself in the tradition of the top dystopian and spe-fi literature: “There’s two different years in which things are happening in The Thick of the Forest, 2060 and 2084, a hardly coincidental wink at George Orwell [‘s 1984]. […] A good reference other than Orwell’s Oceania state is Margaret Atwood’s Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale. In the novel an extreme regulation of reproductive rights carried out in the shadow of an ecocatastrophe has led to a complete collapse of women’s rights”.
The Thick of the Forest follows in fact the fates of two young women, Edla and Ingrid, on two different timelines in a scenario where nature has started fighting back against human exploitation and the forest has turned into a deadly force to be reckoned with. Mixing questions about environmentalism, love, right and wrong and mankind’s relationship with nature, Kuuluvainen‘s debut ” is still the best debut since Emmi Itäranta’s Memory of Water. Much can be expected from this author.”
Elk Girl by Malin Klingenberg is travelling to Italy, where it will be published by Emons, marking the 3rd foreign deal for this title.
Elk Girl by Malin Klingenberg continues to succeed: this delicate YA title is now travelling to Italy, where it will be published by Emons. This is the third language territory for Elk Girl, whose German and World Spanish rights have already been sold.
In Elk Girl we follow Johanna, who has just started middle school and notices that a lot has changed during the summer: her best friend Sandra has started to spend time with the most popular girls in their year and is doing anything to get their approval. Johanna only wants things to be as they were. Luckily, Johanna’s got her forest den, where she can enjoy the fresh forest air and study the animals in peace. One day, she spots an elk in the forest and decides to befriend and tame it. To make everything more difficult, the hunting season is around the corner, and even Johanna’s dad is a member of the hunting club. And who is the mysterious new guy who loves hanging out in the woods?
Elk Girl is a touching young adult novel by Malin Klingenberg, following her popular middle grade novel series about the adventures of The Senior Squad. Critics and readers alike have heaped praise on the book.
Emons is an Italian publishing house with a broad selection of fiction of all genres. Their children’s and young readers’ selection, Emons Raga, spans from middle grade to YA with a special focus on nature, adventure and inclusivity and has been collecting awards and praise from critics, with two of their books making it to both the Andersen and the Strega prize shortlists in 2024.
Described as Umberto Eco meets George R.R. Martin and mixing historical facts with Finnish myths and classical tropes of the fantasy genre in an atmospheric background, The Path of Eternal Winter is one of the most interesting contemporary fantasy titles from the Nordics and has been collecting raving reviews since its release. This is Niilo Sevänen‘s debut as novelist, but the public may recognise his name as the frontman of the melodic death metal band Insomnium. As the subject matter of Eternal Winter is also the theme of Insomnium‘s most successful album, the book has been turning heads and gathering international attention since the news of its publication reached the Insomnium fandom, which counts over 80.000 followers worldwide, and is currently on tour in Europe.
The series mixes an extensive background research on real historical events and Finnish folklore and an entertaining prose resulting in a page-turning read that wraps together a well-structured plot, an entertaining style and great marketing potential.
In The Path of Eternal Winter(Eternal Winter #1) it is the year 1007, it has been winter for seven years and we follow Orpheus, a lute player who is fond of taverns and drinking rather than responsibilities and hardships, but he is left with no choice but to take on custody for little Halla, his niece, who is being chased by mercenaries. The pair embark on a perilous escape, which results in an even more dangerous journey towards a destroyed Rome.
The Path of Eternal Winter (Ikitalven polku, Gummerus 2024)
On a parallel storyline, we follow Duchess Theofanu as she tries to track down her son, who went missing when the world froze over years before. Rumor has it that the Eternal Winter came about when a witch was summoned in Ireland and she traveled to Rome, bringing destruction, and ultimately taking the throne, but nothing is known of the fate of the troops that defended the Holy City.
Who is the Witch, that some call the Anti-Christ, and where does she come from? And why does an eerie crow haunt Halla’s dreams, suggesting she should meet the Witch?
The Chasm of Eternal Winter (Eternal Winter #2) will be out in autumn 2025, picking up where The Path of Eternal Winter left us hanging, and we genuinely can’t wait.
Part of the German deal is also The Gate of Eternal Winter, a novella exploring the lore behind the series also published in audio format by Gummerus.
Bastei Lübbe is one of the major publishers in Germany, ranked as the largest independent publisher of the country and the 3rd largest audiobook publisher in Germany. Their extensive list includes best-selling authors like Dan Brown, among others.
Free, the latest illustrated children’s book by Eppu Nuotio and Sanna Pelliccioni (ill.) is the protagonist of an exhibition in Haapsalu, organised by the Finnish Institute in Estonia.
The event description on the official Finnish Institute in Estonia website
In Free, it is a warm summer day, and a very special one. A human chain is formed to peacefully manifest for peace, and it is also the day a little girl has lost a key, and sets out to find it. Over the course of the day, as everyone joins the chain, she also learns that any lock will open if you find the right key and that there’s power in joining forces to change the world.
Human chains are a peaceful form of demonstration with examples all over the world. For the Baltics, the most notable example is the human chain formed on August 23, 1989: on that day over 2 million people joined a Baltic-wide human chain demonstrating for peace and independence.
To celebrate 35 years from the event, an exhibition with Free as its protagonist is being hosted at the REaD bookshop in Tallinn.
