THE ENCHANTMENT by Riikka Pulkkinen has been nominated for the Botnia Literature Prize!

We are very happy to announce that THE ENCHANTMENT (orig. Lumo, Otava, August 2022) by Riikka Pulkkinen has been nominated for the Botnia Literature Prize! 
The prize, worth 15 000 euros, is awarded for the seventh time in 2023,  to a title with an author originating from Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, or currently living there. The winner will be announced in October. We are also very excited that THE ENCHANTMENT will be published in English by Scribe UK.

The Botnia Literature Prize jury praised Pulkkinen’s novel saying:  

“Riikka Pulkkinen’s The Enchantment introduces one to a traditional scene where a young girl is found dead, but the story is not traditionally straightforward. Its power is in the meanings one gives to girlhood and in how those meanings are suppressed under complex structures of power.

The story of the main character, told by multiple narrators, blurs into a text which is not meant to be completely clear. The identities are shifting, and they are illustrated by Pulkkinen with a playful searching, described naturally and beautifully. Even if the acts of both squeezing oneself into a role and tearing oneself apart from them are described at times even violently, the story is underlined with a deep understanding and warmth for the subject.

Pulkkinen’s novel is an autopsy of stories in a time in which the power to create your own story is ever-present, but at the same time the authority to interpret stories has scattered far and wide. The enchantment of those stories we make up is reflected in Pulkkinen’s sharp prose. The tension between the beauty and the ugliness of the book makes one shiver.

The rights for THE ENCHANTMENT are free e.g. in Italy, France, Estonia, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Nordic countries, Asian territories…

Download materials for THE ENCHANTMENT here

Earlier this summer the English language rights were sold to SCRIBE:
“Enchantment is a deeply thought-out, psychological novel about the ways that we present ourselves, what we let others see and what we hide away. What seems at first like it could be a simple mystery about the unexpected death of a teenage girl becomes a fascinating dismantling of a well-worn trope, in which the ensemble cast reveal their own deepest fears and failings through their projections onto the central character of Philippa, who we never quite come to know in her own right.”
– The Publisher Molly Slight at Scribe UK 

Finnish praise:  “One can read Riikka Pulkkinen’s novel The Enchantment as a report of why Philippa died. The book naturally tells of her as a character who existed. But she can be read also as a description of girlhood and femininity. [–] Riikka Pulkkinen is skilled at writing about friendship, love, the caring of others, and of yearning. She manages again to charm the reader, to make them think of their own youth and how events in childhood have influenced adulthood.”   
–Kirjallisuustoimittaja book blog, Seppo Puttonen, former literary editor at YLE

“Riikka Pulkkinen triumphs with a metafictional novel.  A novel dealing with girlhood prompts readers to ponder the power of narrative.
– Helsingin Sanomat, Starred review

 

THE ENCHANTMENT

By Riikka Pulkkinen

This shiningly beautiful novel is an autopsy of girlhood and power

✓  Riikka Pulkkinen is a shining star in Finnish literature, an award-winning and bestselling author!

Philippa Laakso, aged seventeen, is found dead in her yard at home. Nothing suggests a crime, and everyone who knew her is certain she wasn’t suicidal. On the other hand, all who knew her seem to hold a differing view of her. The investigation sees them being interviewed, but behind every view and story is Philippa’s influence. She still has the people around her in a sharp grip: her friend, ex-boyfriend, teacher, neighbors.

Riikka Pulkkinen’s anticipated novel examines the power and comfort of make-believe and the thin line between love and play. Every character in the novel sees Philippa in his or her own way, as a mirror for fantasizing, anger, aspirations, comfort, and freedom, and uses their perceived image of Philippa to their own ends.

Lumo
Otava, August 2022, 383 pp

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

UNITED KINGDOM: Scribe
WORLD ENGLISH: Scribe

Reading materials:

English sample & synopsis
German sample
Media coverage
Finnish edition

About author


Riikka Pulkkinen

Riikka Pulkkinen (b. 1980) is one of the top names in Finnish literature. Her debut novel The Limit (2006) gained wide attention, was a bestseller, and was adapted into a play and a TV series in Finland. Her international breakthrough came with her second novel, True (2010), which was the one novel everyone was talking about that year at the Frankfurt book fair. The novel has been published in 17 countries to date.

Pulkkinen’s novels are characterized by the precision with which she describes the psychology of the characters, and the philosophical themes that reflect from the characters into the refined structure of the novels and culminate on the level of the plot. The main questions she explores in her novels concern power, responsibility, and justice.

Pulkkinen has an M.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Helsinki, and she lives in Helsinki with her husband and her two children. She enjoys dancing and running in the forest or by the seaside. If she weren’t a writer, she would be a psychologist or a baker.

For her works, Riikka Pulkkinen has received the Kaarle award in 2007, the Laila Hirvisaari Fund stipend in 2007, the Veijo Meri Award in 2019, and her novel True was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in 2010. Her acclaimed novel Enchantment (Otava, 2022) will be published in English by Scribe in 2026, and her new novel Our Last Game (Otava, 2024) published in Finland in August 2024 is gaining starred reviews.

Bibliography


2024, Literary Fiction

Our Last Game

Riikka Pulkkinen


2022, Literary Fiction

The Enchantment

Riikka Pulkkinen


2010, Literary Fiction

True

Riikka Pulkkinen


2006, Literary Fiction

The Limit

Riikka Pulkkinen