AUTHORS’ AUGUST ends on a high note: watch Maria Turtschaninoff describe the ideas behind her bestselling YA Fantasy novels

Authors’ August ends on a high note!

Watch how bestselling YA Fantasy author Maria Turtschaninoff describes becoming a writer and the ideas behind the worlds she has created.

Elina Ahlback Literary Agency has produced in collaboration with Kintsugi Agency five cinematic Author Videos.
In Authors’ August, we are extremely proud to launch these unique author videos one by one.

In previous weeks we have launched Laura Lindstedt, Max Seeck, Salla Simukka and A.M. Ollikainen and this week we are happy to end the Authors’ August on a high note with Maria Turtschaninoff!

See all 5 videos here.

Maria Turtschaninoff: “I crawled into every wardrobe I could find and I was very disappointed that none of them ever lead to Narnia”

We thank the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for their financial support of the video project.

Red Abbey Chronicles by Maria Turtschaninoff

MARESI
The Red Abbey is a refuge for women and girls, where everyone pursues their own areas of interest. Maresi prefers to spend her time reading and learning. Everything changes when the frightened Jai arrives on the island. She has seen her sister get buried alive for speaking to a young man, and her father and a crew of thugs are after her. Maresi and her friends have to fight to defend both Jai and their community.

NAONDEL
An independent prequel to Maresi, Naondel tells the story of the First Sisters – founders of the Red Abbey. Imprisoned in a harem by a dangerous man, with a dark magic that grants him power over life and death, the women must overcome their mistrust of each other in order to escape. But they can only do so at a great cost, both for those who leave and those left behind.

MARESI: RED MANTLE
The third book is an epistolary novel that follows Maresi after she leaves the Red Abbey to establish a school in her oppressed home province of Rovas. The return to her Northern home, and fitting in, is not easy even with all the knowledge she’s bringing with her, but she is determined to triumph over the difficulties. However, she does not need to make it alone, for life has yet another surprise in store: love.

Download full English pdfs for the series here

Praise for the series:
“Maresi stands out for its startling originality, and for the frightening plausibility of the dangerous world it creates” – Rebecca Hawkes, Telegraph

“It’s rare to find a YA fantasy with such polished writing… Utterly satisfying and completely different” – Booklist, starred review

“Dark, powerful and original… it really stands out in a very crowded YA marketplace. Thrilling, suspenseful and gloriously feminist” – The Bookseller

“It’s hard not to be impressed with Turtschaninoff’s magical world”
– The Times

”The novel is at once contemporary and timeless. Its unwavering feminism is resolutely modern, resonating with a range of texts from Ursula Le Guin’s 2001 Tales from Earthsea to Disney’s Frozen. At the same time, it feels authentically ancient and mythic.”
– The Guardian

”The first book in a very unusual fantasy/fairytale trilogy, bristling with feminism, inner darkness and intellectual questions”
– The Daily Mail