fiction katalogi taitto - ahlbackagency.com fileif you like johan theorin, you’ll love marko...

RIGHTS GUIDEFICTIONFall2011

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“If you like Johan Theorin, you’ll love Marko Hautala”

New book ‘Worms’ out in April 2011

“Marko Hautala shows a masterful grasp of literary technique and his own material. He writes powerful prose in which memorable sentences join together to create a stirring vision of life.”Praise from the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize jury for ‘Shrouds’ in 2010.

Rights sold to Italy (‘Shrouds’)

Marko Hautala: Worms(Torajyvät, Tammi 2011) 260 pages

Worms is an intensely emotional tale of the long shadows cast by the past and atonement for irreversible deeds.Aaron and Jenny’s marriage is in good shape on the surface when they are invit-ed to the outer islands in the Gulf of Both-nia. Aaron’s adult son, Alexi, lives there in seclusion due to a brain injury sustained in a serious car accident. The invitation can-not be turned down, since it could be the last chance for reconciliation and forgiveness. Jenny is Alexi’s former sweetheart, and the father’s scandalous secret relationship with his son’s girlfriend caused deep rifts between them at the time. However, on the rocky, barren island lurks the mysterious legacy of a shipwreck, marked by nine stone graves and a small, dilapidated chapel. These ghost-ly memorials conceal an ancient tragedy and an ideology in which a sinner is of no more worth than a worm crawling in the dirt. And on the island, that legacy appears to live on.

TO BE PUBLISHED IN APRIL 2011

If you like Johan Theorin, you’ll love Marko Hautala!

Winner of the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize for ‘Shrouds’Marko Hautala (b. 1973) is an author and a teacher who used to work in a psychiatric hos-pital. His first novel The Self-Illuminated Ones (Itsevalaisevat, 2008) received the Tiilis kivi Prize. In 2010 Hautala received the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize for Young Authors for Shrouds.

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(Käärinliinat, Tammi 2009) 279 pages

Shrouds is a gripping novel about the power of the human mind as well as a merciless depiction of the harshness of life at a mental institution.Thirty-year-old Mikael is assigned as the designated nurse of an elderly male patient in the closed ward of a mental hospital. The patient has committed an inexplicable mur-der, and has since retreated into a strange Egyptian counter-world, haughtily propagat-ing his death cult through eerily hypnotic sermons. Mikael struggles to understand his patient, but due to his own life situation he fails to remain professionally detatched. His colleagues offer no help: dark cynicism dom-inates the everyday life of the hospital. The reader gradually finds out more about the patient as the old man’s wartime experiences unfold through a series of dramatic flash-backs, presenting one possible explanation for the onset of his disease. However, Hau-tala is too subtle and mature to offer a single cut-and-dry solution.

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“The ending offers a surprise that upgrades a fine story to an excellent one.” – Metro

Marko Hautala: Shrouds

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Praise for White Heat (Valkoinen hehku, Tammi 2009)

“The narrative is dynamic ––The many characters are vividly described, with humour blossoming even in the midst of sobering issues.” – Umami

Tapani Bagge: The Blue Ghost(Sininen aave, Tammi 2011) 232 pages

Finnish crime fiction has a new, humane protagonist.The year is 1940. Detec-tive Sergeant Muju nen, familiar to readers of White Heat, is swept up in a new, more poign-ant chain of events. Mujunen, in mourn-ing for the death of his wife, meets the Lithua-nian dancer Ilse Anders at the cemetery, and his heart skips a beat. But his troubles are far from over.

A Finnish commut-er plane vanishes after taking off from Tallinn, a bank is robbed in Kera va, and riots flare in Helsinki, the protesters demanding peace and brotherhood between Finland and the Soviet Union. Also involved is a big time gangster, Finn-ish-American Bill Kovanen, arrived too late to take part in the Winter War. Crime journalist Ossi Koho and photographer Sanna Rytkönen suspect a conspiracy: what if everything is connected with the accident where actress Sirkka Sari fell into the chimney of the Aulanko Hotel? The last act is played out on the windy shore of the Ice Sea, where Mu-junen’s faith in mankind is put to the test.

RIGHTS SOLD TO GERMANY (GODFATHER’S FUNERAL, 2008, AND

BLACK SKY, 2006)

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The Face in the Gutter (Kasvot katuojassa, CrimeTime 2011)is Tapani Bagge’s (b. 1964) thirteenth crime novel, filled with wry humour, a devious plot, amusing metaphors, and even some skilfully sketched human relationships. The protago-nist, Onni Syrjänen, has previously appeared in numerous short stories (e.g. in the collec-tion The Face in the Concrete, 2007). A comic book is also in the works. Bagge has received several prizes for his over 50 published fiction and children’s books.

Rights enquiries: Elina Ahlback Literary Agency | [email protected] | www.ahlbackagency.com 3


Markku Ropponen: Kuhala and the Prison Warden’s Mandolin(Kuhala ja vanginvartijan mandoliini, Tammi 2011) 323 pages

Carefully crafted, addictive and spiced with Ropponen’s unique wit, this book stands out among Finnish crime literature. Otto Kuhala, about to give up his career as a private detective, moves into a little country cabin to find some peace and quiet. However, an anonymous call-er foils his plans, giving him half an hour to find a bomb hidden in the foundation of his cabin. Kuha-la has in his day put quite a few crooks behind bars, so it looks like one of them is looking for revenge.

He is soon commissioned to investigate a dou-ble murder. The main suspect has hanged himself in his cell. Kuhala’s detective’s instinct leads him to take a dangerous trip to the country. The bad boys in the boondocks make the most of the detec-tive’s visit, and he ends up in a tough spot, spend-ing the night in the cell of a condemned prison. His dream of spending Christmas with the love-ly Yolanda seems to be slipping out of his grasp.

Staffan Bruun: Suitcase Full of Money(Kappsäck full med pengar , Schildts 2010) 225 pages

A hard-boiled crime novel about the consequences of accidently picking up the wrong suitcase from the belt. Antonio Sallinen is a well behaved familyman who doesn’t drink and doesn’t mess around with for-eign beauties. But it doesn’t help him – he still finds himself in an awful mess. In Suitcase Full of Money he picks up the wrong suitcase at the air-port. It contains a lot of money and Sallinen, to-gether with his wife, decides to keep it. But some-body else wants the money too, and he is not gen-tle about it.

Suitcase Full of Money is a classic thriller with a story that very rapidly runs from beginning to end. Staffan Bruun has once again written a gripping sto-ry packed with entertaining twists and turns.

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Markku Ropponen (b. 1955) has undoubt-edly claimed his place among the great Finnish crime writers with his Kuhala novels, brimming with intelligent humour and spar-kling wit – but still gripping and tense.

Staffan Bruun (b. 1955), an ex-crime report-er inspired by international underworld activ-ities, ventured into crime fiction in 1990s. In 2009 he was granted the Topelius Prize for his journalistic achievements.

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Struggling Love (Struggling Love, Schildts 2008) is the ninth crime novel featuring journalist Burt Kobbat. Murders, death threats, a long-lost Beatles recording and the premiere of a Disney film all conspire to provide Kobbat with adventures in various countries.

“Ropponen’s long, baroque sentences will surely please many readers.”– Savon Sanomat

Kuhala and Spring’s First Corpse (Kuhala ja kevään ensi ruumis, Tammi 2010)Kuhala comes across the horrendous evidence of a killing on a spring-time walk. Who jammed an ice claw into the neck of the former county ad-ministrator?

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“Bruun dares to laugh at the crime fiction genre. The text is good social criticism, and Antonio Sallinen makes an entertaining protagonist.”

– Vasabladet


Peter Franzén (b. 1971) is one of Finland’s most popular actors, having performed in many hit films and on stage, includ-ing in New York where he was starring in Sofi Oksanen’s Purge. Cur-rently living and working in both Finland and the US, Franzén spent his child-hood in northern Finland.

Peter Franzén: On Dark Waters(Tumman veden päällä, Tammi 2010) 319 pages

A touching and finely tuned growing up story set in northern Finland.For children, every day brings something new and amazing. It could be a game with your little sister and the kids from next door, it could be a Grandpa who makes you laugh, or it could be the snow crunching under the runners of your pushsled during a race. Or, like for Pete, it could be the first year of school, which is coming up soon. And then there’s Dad, who starts to change. Pete begins hearing voices from the kitchen, arguing and crying. Storming out into the night. The child trusts his parents unconditional-ly, admires them, is full of hope and faith in the fu-ture. What happens when this image falls to pieces?

On Dark Waters is a disarmingly sensitive and frequently delightful story of growth. Relying on small observations, objects, scents, and moods, Franzén carries the story along towards the great drama, the moment when the idyll of childhood is shattered.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HELSINGIN SANOMAT DEBUT BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2010

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Sami Hilvo (b. 1967) is at home in both Helsin-ki and Tokyo. He earns his living by translating, inter-preting, and practicing in-ternational trade, but more unusual entries also ap-pear on his CV, includ-ing bartender, diplomat, art model and dancer. He currently lives in Helsinki with his Brazilian spouse.

Sami Hilvo: The Liquor Card(Viinakortti, Tammi 2010) 208 pages

A bold, beautiful story of World War II Finland and a love that does not find acceptance in the world around it.Mikael arrives at his grandmother’s funeral and finds that nothing has changed. His deceased grandparents’ home still feels like home, and his relatives treat him just as coldly as before. When Mikael gets the key to his grandfather’s study, the past takes over. The blue uniform shirt inherited from his police chief grandfather, and the liquor card it holds right next to the heart, are not all he shares with his grandfather Urho after all.

The Liquor Card is a touching and intrepid tale of forbidden love. It tells the story of two men, Urho and Toivo, for whom the end of the war does not bring peace. The making of compromises, a neces-sity in their day, didn’t end despite changes to the laws on homosexuality: Urho’s descendants have also remained silent. Until Mikael finds a photo-graph hidden inside his grandfather’s liquor card...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HELSINGIN SANOMAT DEBUT BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2010

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“Actor Peter Franzén makes a respectable entrée into the role of author.”

– Helsingin Sanomat

“–– Hilvo writes well. There’s no shortage of observations and vision.”


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DEBUT AUTHORS

(Parempi maailma, Tammi 2012)

A Better World is a novel about contem-porary Europe, a story about the desper-ate struggle of individuals to belong to a community, about the interplay between destruction and hope in people’s lives.The first narrator of the novel is Naïmi, a young refugee from Bagdad, making the difficult journey through Europe with her small child. Her one dream is to see the Ishtar Gate, the ancient processional gate through the city walls, brought to the Pergamon museum in Berlin in the early 1900s. It is the symbol of the glory days of legendary Babylon, the ancient melting pot of civilizations, which still represents for contemporary Iraqis an era of bygone greatness and a promise of a better world.

The second narrator is a Finnish min-ister, sensationally fired from his position for racist comments. He tries to clear his name by starting his own campaign against racists. He adopts a refugee girl as the face and tool of his campaign, using her to try to build his brave new world.

The third main character is a sculptor. His story is told through a series of love letters written in the Berlin of the 1920s–1930s. He has moved there from stagnant Finland, hoping to launch his career as an artist. Willing to do anything for success, he seeks menial labour at a museum, as-sembling the Ishtar Gate from millions of tile shards.

Romeo and Juliet (Romeo ja Julia, Tammi 2007) 182 pages

Zombie (Zombie, Tammi 2010) 171 pages

Jari Järvelä (b. 1966) has written novels, short stories, plays and an opera libretto. His 2007 novel Romeo and Juliet was a critical success, Finlandia prize and Runeberg prize nominee, and one of the books nominated for the 2009 Nordic Council Literature Prize.

Jari Järvelä: A Better World

“The subjects apply to this moment, the method is evocative and conforms precisely to the currents of the time. Despite its peculiar lightness and humour, this is a frighteningly serious novel.”

– Parnasso

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Markku Pääskynen (b. 1973) has written six books. The Day of Wrath was a Finlandia Prize nom-inee, and it also won him the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize. The Most Impor-tant Things in This World (Tämän maailman tärkeim-mät asiat, 2005) received the Savonia Prize.

Markku Pääskynen: Book of Angels(Enkelten kirja, Tammi 2010) 192 pages

A young father’s stunningly intensely depicted trial of strength in a time of difficulty. Tuomas has been a single dad to Aino for so long that she no longer asks him where Mommy is. When Tuomas loses his job and his house burns down, things start feeling irredeemably hopeless. But then into the picture steps an old friend, who decides to save Tuomas and bring him back to the land of the living.

Book of Angels is an intense and poetic descrip-tion of the waning of an individual’s strength and his slow ascent to fresh hope. It is a story of con-solation, a bold description of the grandeur of the small, everyday things in life, of the fundamental questions of existence. Why, and for whom, do we live? What is love?

Pääskynen once again exhibits an astounding capacity, familiar to readers of The Day of Wrath (Vihan päivä, 2006) to see deep into the human heart.

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Riitta Jalonen’s (b. 1954) picture book trilogy has been translated into numer-ous languages. Its first vol-ume, The Girl and the Jack-daw Tree (Tyttö ja naakka-puu, 2004), won the Fin-landia Junior Award. Jalo-nen’s novel The Imagi-nary Man (Kuvittele itsellesi mies) won the Runeberg Prize in 2006.

Riitta Jalonen: Good Night, Irma Noora(Hyvää yötä Irma Noora, Tammi 2010) 156 pages

An enigmatic tale of ghosts from the past and new beginnings. The box is full of photographs of strangers. While looking at them, Noora’s foster mother Rebek-ka has seen a speck of light: something that, if the people seeking her assistance head towards, will restore balance to their lives. In one of the ses-sions many years ago, it was Noora’s confirmation photograph that Aunt Rebekka examined. But not even her protective gaze has been able to prevent all misfortune.

When Aunt Rebekka dies unexpectedly, the traumas of youth begin to tumble into Noora’s carefully guarded territory. Everything changes. Noora walks away from her ruined marriage and returns to her childhood home, where each object is loaded with a meaning given by Rebekka. In her aunt’s kingdom, Noora feels safe, but is the path to becoming a seer indicated by Rebekka right for her after all? Or would it be most important to be seen herself?

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“– – It is nice to see a novel that places so much confidence in the power of words.”

– Parnasso

“Using Jalonen’s way of writing compact paragraphs, you can fit several novels into 150 pages.”

– Suomen Kuvalehti

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(On rakkautes ääretön, Tammi 2001) 224 pages

A shocking yet bright work about a harsh subject.Your Love Is Infinite tells about 6-year-old Saara, who has been taken to her grandparents’ house for the summer because her parents aren’t able to care for her. Grandpa is the only adult Saara believes loves her, but it is precise-ly his violent love that drives Saara into a world of fan-tasy and guilt. Saara longs for her mother, but she isn’t able to help, and Saara is left to her grandfather’s mercy.

Without blaming anyone, Peura weaves a taut, beau-tiful, powerful tale about a difficult subject: incest. She writes about children’s trust and dependence, and how they manage to survive.

“The impressive paradox of Peura’s work is that the novel is good and beautiful even though it deals with what is evil and ugly.”– Finlandia Prize Committee

(Valon reunalla, Teos 2005) 165 pages

At the Edge of Light is a suffocating story of a true-life Romeo and a Juliet born somewhere in the far north, in a world of permafrost and insufferable people. The novel is set in a close village community and tells the story of a girl and the boy she loves. Burning pas-sion threatens to consume the lovers, and other people are a source of pain, but there is also room for absurd, ad-hoc humour. Peura describes her characters beauti-fully, heartbreakingly and with great honesty. Readers fear for them, and hope that the passion and curiosity that these young lovers struggle so vainly to conceal will not completely destroy them.

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(Vedenaliset, Teos 2008) 165 pages

Maria Peura’s third novel Under the Water is a powerful story of a girl who grows up with her parents on an isolated island in Finnish Lapland. When she moves to a university town to study German language and literature, she is unable to adapt to her new surroundings, with even escalators provoking fear and wonder in her. The girl doesn’t know her limits at all, nor does she know how to behave. She is an untamed child of nature in the wrong environment. The girl nev-ertheless manages to find some friends among the im-migrant community. Peura’s sprawling novel is over-flowing with sea winds, the storms of inner life, and the powerful presence of nature.

Maria Peura’s (b. 1970) At the Edge of Light received great reviews both in Finland and in the UK, where it was published in 2007. Her de-but, Your Love Is Infinite, was short-listed for the Finlandia Prize in 2001.

At the Edge of Light

Maria Peura:Under the Water

Your Love Is Infinite

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Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) is a literary researcher, a critic and an essayist. She is writing her Ph.D. on the life and works of Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt is work-ing on a new novel to be published in 2012.

Laura Lindstedt: Scissors(Sakset, Teos 2007) 240 pages

Laura Lindstedt’s impressive novel Scissors succeeds in developing from a description of contemporary adoptive parenthood and mother-hood into a discourse on fundamental issues.Scissors is a story of a woman, Maria, who adopts a little girl from China. Great expectations and the desire to love turn to inadequateness before the child’s blank stare. What happens if a child doesn’t respond at all? Or if the mother and the child are afraid of each other?

Lindstedt writes boldly about a woman’s life and the need to love one’s child. The novel discuss-es sensitive matters that are not often talked about: the distance between child and parent, the fear of failure and finally a mother’s mental instability.

Scissors manifests both a great command of lan-guage and structure and a skilful ability to manip-ulate plot.

Annina Holmberg (b.1964) has studied liter-ature and theatre sciences. Presently, she is writing a new novel, Tabernacles, an intense story about a much-revealing get-togeth-er of five schoolmates. It is when the friends evaluate and compare their present values that everything starts to unravel.

Annina Holmberg: Echo(Kaiku, Siltala 2009) 371 pages

Annina Holmberg’s fresh narrative voice describes growing up in a bohemian family of artists. The magical world of theater is seen first through the wondering eyes of a child, and then from the vantage of a young adult consumed by current events. At the same time, the text takes on a darker tone: the family must come to terms with political conflict, alcoholism, and culture wars. A daughter who zealously defends her parents grows to adult-hood and sees her past from a new perspective. “I know the daughter’s lines, but I’ve still got plenty of work to do on the mother’s role,” the narrator states, upon realizing that she more readily identi-fies with the classic father figures of literature than the mothers. An echo responds from the past, as the bunny-rabbit trembling in the bushes develops through self-awareness and self-acceptance into a tigress defending her young.

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“ ‘Echo’ discusses motherhood in an entertaining manner, spiced with witty theatrical anecdotes.”

– Uusi Suomi

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“She was a writer before she ever wrote her first novel.”– Keskisuomalainen

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINLANDIA PRIZE IN 2007

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Essi Kummu’s debut novel Mania was released in 2006 to great reviews. Death of the Bear was shortlisted for the Tiiliskivi Prize in 2010. Kummu also writes for the media, the fine arts and dance.

Essi Kummu: Death of the Bear(Karhun kuolema, Tammi 2010) 213 pages

A ballad of unrequited love. Death of the Bear is a lyrical, down-to-earth story of family members painfully searching for their place in this world. Mumma dies but refuses to rest. She cannot; she is simply incapable of it. The paralyzed old woman was at the mercy of her daughter Fanny while she was alive, but now she is free and every-thing remains unfinished. Fanny’s son Alex is root-less. His relationship with a round-cheeked Inuit doesn’t bring him peace of mind, nor does return-ing to his homeland, where his cool and distant mother awaits. Only Fanny’s sister Stella, a healer shunned by her fellow villagers, knows her place: she will become the bear’s bride. But only those who are bound forcefully enough to the earth can find comfort in the arms of the bear.

“The bear would shamble up and she would become the bear’s and everything would be the way it was and no one would be able to do any-thing about it.”

SHORTLISTED FOR THE TIILISKIVI PRIZE IN 2010

Riina Katajavuori (b. 1968) writes lyrical but precise prose about the everyday. She describes motherhood with its differ-ent dimensions touchingly, tangibly, and above all com-passionately. Katajavuori’s poems have been translated into over twenty languages. She has also written a se-ries of picture books.

Riina Katajavuori: Gifts(Lahjat, Tammi 2004) 222 pages

A story about mothers and generations, and how wishes and expectations are passed from one generation to the next.Tuulia is a housewife with a husband and two chil-dren. She is adamant about staying home as long as their youngest is still small, but at times she longs to return to the safer, more familiar halls of academia.

How to pass the tests of motherhood and parenting without flunking? Tuulia feels that she is an intermediary, carefully weighing her values and attitudes before passing them on. Her social life is also restructured, as other mothers step into view: a peer group with which she can share the growing pains of the playground.

Gifts is a novel that seeks to find the roots of the everyday, to remember the things that we often for-get. Life with children is not an epic tale, but one built up of small, often irrelevant little events and associations – the details that are effaced in the face of more dramatic life changes.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE RUNEBERG PRIZE IN 2004

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“ ‘Karhun kuolema’ is a ballad that you cannot pin down to a specific time or place.”

– Hämeen Sanomat

“ ‘Gifts’ is a modest, but ambitious novel about motherhood –– narrated with an original voice.”


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Merete Mazzarella (b. 1945) made her debut in 1979 with the autobio-graphical First They Sold the Piano. Since then she has honed her style as an essayist, blending learned reflections and literary quotations with person-al thoughts and ideas in a permanent dialogue with the reader.

Merete Mazzarella: Travel at a Discount (Resa med rabatt, Söderströms 2010) 242 pages

“Don’t be offended, be happy!”This is a motto the former professor of literature has reason to return to more than once after re-cently becoming a pensioner. It may be about a film show for the elderly which is suddenly can-celled, or a front tooth that breaks. Annoying – but bite with the teeth you have left and be happy!

Mazzarella writes about her family and the friends she grew up with. She observes her own ageing, with both amusement and concern. And she writes about how people have regarded old-age at different periods – from the time of the An-cient Greeks to the youth-fixated media society of today. “You’re surely not old at the age of six-ty-three. You’re not, surely?” she asks herself, re-vealing a mastery of style, a humour and a speed of association.

Travel at a Discount is a book for readers of any and every age, for we’re all in the same boat, even though some are sitting in the bows and some in the stern.

AWARDED THE STATE PRIZE FOR ART IN 2002

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Annika Luther (b. 1958) took up writing in the 90s, continued because of the unexpected pleasure it brought. She has since written five youth novels and a history-book about Helsinki.

Annika Luther: City of the Homeless(De hemlösas stad , Söderströms 2011) 200 pages

An incredibly exciting dystopia, like Margaret Atwood for youngsters.Following a climate catastrophe in the year 2035, large parts of Finland are under water. Helsinki has been evacuated, and the inhabitants have all been moved up north. The children live a sheltered life there, with kantele music, sport and mobile phone supervision, largely ignorant of the world outside. But fifteen-year-old Lilja, who was born in Helsinki, wants to find out about her roots. She runs away and makes her way to Helsinki, where people from all over the world have settled after their own homes were inundated. There she is able to live with an Indian family – and try to survive in a totally different Hel-sinki from the one she – and we – are familiar with.

In Luther’s dystopia there is also humour, and iden ti fication with the young protagonist and her teen-age temperament. And a realisation that life always goes on, in some form or other, despite everything.

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“–– a most entertaining work, written in a tone of cheerful melancholy, more chat than facts.”

– Expressen

“Annika Luther’s hilarious story is a literary jackpot.”

– Savon Sanomat

PUBLISHED IN FINNISH BY TAMMI.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINLANDIA JUNIOR PRIZEAND WINNER OF THE TOPELIUS PRIZE IN 2008

Luther’s ‘A Letter to the Edge of the Land’ was


Katri Lipson (b. 1965) is a medical doctor who has always been writ-ing something: fairytales, short stories, poems, plays, novels. Her forth-coming novel takes place in Czechoslovakia during three turning points in that nation’s history. The book is due to be published in 2012.

Katri Lipson: Cosmonaut(Kosmonautti, Tammi 2008) 199 pages

An enchanting novel about the fragility of dreams. Svetlana Kovalevna is a music teacher who is mer-cilessly bullied at her job. However, there has been one ray of sunshine in her working life: Serjoza, a shy boy who was secretly head over heels in love with her. Serjoza’s father was useless after all, and eventually froze to death in the snow while out drinking. Now things seem to take a turn for the better when an old documentary arouses the sym-pathies of the Kremlin and the rest of the world for the would-be cosmonaut. But where is Serjoza?

Lipson writes like the Russian Classics at their best. The reader finds herself in the middle of Mur-mansk in the 1980s, experiencing its scents, its col-ours, and its way of speaking. The reader feels im-mediately at home, regardless of whether he or she has actually been there: he feels ashamed about the mottled wallpaper in his rental flat, and burns his palm on a hot glass of tea. And finds relief.

WINNER OF THE HELSINGIN SANOMAT DEBUT BOOK

OF THE YEAR AWARD AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE

FINLANDIA PRIZE IN 2008. RIGHTS AVAILABLE

Veronica Pimenoff (b. 1949) is an author, anthropologist and psy-chiatrist. Her previous work, the novel C (Tammi 2005), presented a chal-lenging view of a crum-bling Europe. In 2009 Pimenoff was awarded with the Pro Finlandia Medal for her writing.

Veronica Pimenoff: Heroclipse(Sankarin seisaus, Tammi 2010) 280 pages

The migrant, arriving in the US from Asia via Europe, is almost at his destination, as he has an entrance pass to the Pentagon hanging around his neck. Mythical and historical events drift past in the backdrop of this long-anticipated novel, offering points of repetition and comparison. The hero has suckled at the breast of the Statue of Liberty and gone on wild rampages while carrying out the ar-bitrary orders of his masters, in hopes of ascending into their lofty company. When vandalism is met with vandalism and war intensifies, he slows down.

The fickle leaders, who move people like pawns in playing out their own conflicts, are not capa-ble of bringing order to the field, nor can the hero figure out how to release his pent-up energy. The air conditioning hums as worlds collide, buildings slide to the earth, identities blur, and thoughts run wild. Heroclipse originated in one skull and two fists at the commencement of the final third of 2001.

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“ ‘Cosmonaut’ is as oppressive as any Russian classic, and as fresh as the first head-rush from a pure glass of vodka.”

– Sara

“Besides being a well-told novel, Pimenoff’s book is also an important one.”

– Savon Sanomat

GERMAN SAMPLE

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Anna-Lena Laurén:

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(Sedan jag kom till Moskva, Söderströms 2010)

Anna-Lena Laurén is known as a committed Russia correspondent but she is also known for the personal, entertaining way in which she writes. In her new book she describes her life in Moscow, not only as a foreign correspondent but also as a single young woman with a good job and many friends, and yet experiencing loneliness, an emptiness that cannot be filled. Frankly and bravely, she tells about her sin-gle existence, the people she meets, the social life of a pulsating metropolis, and her relationship with her parents and relatives back home in Finland, which she loves. She tells about dates and male friends, whom she describes with humour and warmth.

(De är inte kloka, de där ryssarna, Söderströms 2008)

This is a book of snapshots of modern Russia. It is written with humour and warmth, anger and passion, joy and wonder – feelings which one cannot live without in Russia.“Late into June motorists drive about Moscow with the black and orange victory ribbons tied to their ra-dio aerials. When I see a dusty Lada going past with the ribbon flying from the aerial, so dirty you can’t recognise it, I think two things.

1. Of course it is fine that one can be so proud of one’s country, that the Russians know their history and gain strength from it.

2. There goes somebody who can’t afford anything but a Zhiguli, as he lives in a country that only re-wards the strongest. Nevertheless, he glorifies the sys-tem. Poor devil.”

They’re Not All There, Those Russians

Since I Came to Moscow

(I bergen finns inga herrar, Söderströms 2009)

Steep mountains, a high sky and an multiplicity of different ethnic groups – that is the Caucasus. Anna-Lena Laurén is one of the few western jour-nalists who regularly travel about the region and who has thoroughly familiarised herself with the conflicts that smoulder in South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Ingush-etia, North Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan and Kab-ardino-Balkaria. In this book she travels from North Caucasus, which belongs to Russia, to Georgia. The book is written with journalistic expertise, insight and love, which are Laurén’s trademark.

In the Mountains There Are No Masters

Anna-Lena Laurén (b. 1976) is well- known in Scandina-via as a columnist and reporter with a person-al touch and great com-mitment in her writing. That was one of the reasons why she won the Finland-Swedish journalist award, the Topelius Prize, in 2002. Laurén was awarded the State Journalist Award in 2010 for news reporting.

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RIGHTS SOLD TO

RUSSIA, NORWAY,

SWEDEN, UKRAINE

ALL TITLES PUBLISHED IN FINNISH BY TAMMI.



Erkki Tuomioja: Jaan Tõnisson(Jaan Tõnisson, Tammi 2010) 352 pages

The next provocative work to investigate Estonia’s recent history.In the history of the first period of Estonian in-dependence (1918–1940), two names stand out from the rest: Jaan Tõnisson and Konstantin Päts. Päts started out a leftist radical but ended as au-thoritarian dictator. Tõnisson, on the other hand, was a nationalist rightwing newspaperman who ended his career as the leader of the liberal oppo-sition and died in circumstances that remain un-clear after his arrest after the Soviet occupation. The cooperation, competition and conflicts be-tween these two men left a powerful mark on the events of independent Estonia prior to the occupa-tion of the country. This tension sustains this fas-cinating – and, surprisingly enough, first – work written about Tõnisson, which is, like many of the works that openly delve into Estonia’s recent past, the handiwork of Finnish historical researcher.

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Erkki Tuomioja (b. 1946) is the former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Mem-ber of the Parliament, Chairman of the Grand Committee and a Ph.D. in political science. He is author of 18 books.

A Delicate Shade of Pink (Häivähdys punaista, Tammi 2006) The result of ten years’ extensive research is a revealing insight about the lives of two women, and of their surprisingly remarkable political influence in their new home countries, Finland and the UK.

A DELICATE SHADE OF PINK: WINNER OF THE FINLANDIA NON-FICTION PRIZE 2006.

RIGHTS SOLD TO SWEDEN, ESTONIA, GERMANY, INDIA

FULL ENGLISH

TEXT

RIGHTS SOLD TO

ESTONIA

Towers (Tornit, Tammi 2009) is a perceptive and psychologically-charged story, mixed with the elements of fantasy, erotica and horror. It is a unique story of death, revenge and atonement from a true Master of Surprise.

Jyrki Vainonen: At Swift’s Door(Swiftin ovella, Tammi 2012)

Lennart Beren, having just spent five years in Ire-land, gets a phone call from an old friend, Johan-nes Kelps, who will be dying soon. ”I want you to finish my book”, Johannes says. After the death of Johannes, Lennart moves into his house, as agreed. There he discovers a secret room with a strange device, and suddenly Lennart finds himself back in Ireland. But he has also travelled back in time, and has become Watt, a man-servant of Jonathan Swift. Soon he – and the reader – is initiated into the life of the famous satirist.

This highly inventive novel is a dramatic tale of ill fate and a brave fight against injustice. The drama unfolds in part in a fictitious Finnish set-ting, in part in Ireland in the 18th century. And the drama ends, finally, where it all began: in the house of Johannes Kelps, once a famous scientist who withdrew suddenly from the academic world and bought an old, remote house in the country. Why? What happened to him?

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Jyrki Vainonen (b. 1963) is an award-win-ning Finnish author who is renowned for his Finnish translations of the works of Seamus Heaney, Jonathan Swift and William Shake-speare. He has lived in Ireland and wrote his licentiate thesis on Swift’s Irish pamphlets. RIGHTS AVAILABLE

ENGLISH SAMPLE

TRANSLATION

Jyrki Vainonen: At Swift’s Door(Swiftin ovella, Tammi 2012)

(Miten miljoonia huijataan , Tammi 2009) 216 pages

The colourful history of great money fraudsters. A thrilling read of the most unscrupulous swindles of mankind published in English in March 2011!Throughout the history of mankind unscrupulous financial crooks have swindled billions from their gullible victims. These sophisticat-ed crimes are spreading like wildfire. Bernard Madoff’s incredible 65 billion dollar pyramid ruined thousands of Americans, including mil-lionaire Jewish businessmen, Hollywood film personalities and can-cer charities. He is the Criminal of the Century.

Ten of the world’s most interesting financial swindles are exam-ined by Dr. Kari Nars in this unique book Swindling Billions. He re-views the nature and working methods of some of the great money fraudsters: what kind of people they really are, their thought process-es, how they succeeded in cheating thousands of wealthy people, and what kind of people are liable to fall victim to such scams. Do they at all regret their nasty deeds?

Dr. Kari Nars has a long and distinguished career in various high banking positions in London, Washington and Paris, and as a director of Finland’s central bank and Ministry of Finance. He has published several books, and was chief editor and main writer of Excellence in Debt Management by Euromoney Books in London.

Kari Nars: Swindling Billions FULL ENGLISH

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RIGHTS SOLD TO THE UK,

GERMANY AND KOREA

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