Introducing award-winning author Johanna Holmström and first-class thriller WOLF CUB!

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Introducing award-winning author Johanna Holmström and first-class thriller WOLF CUB!

Pre-publication news:

We are excited to present our newest author: the award-winning Johanna Holmström and her forthcoming, atmospheric literary thriller WOLF CUB (Vargens unge), which will publish this August with Albert Bonniers Förlag and simultaneously in Finland by Otava and Förlaget.

There’s no greater feeling than seeing a publisher so passionate about our hottest title of the Fall season! Here’s what Helene Atterling, publisher at Albert Bonniers had to say:

“Surely the greatest pleasure a publisher can have is to discover a book that is truly unexpected!  When I received the manuscript of Johanna Holmström’s latest book, I expected well-crafted prose – but not a crime novel. And I was drawn into a world of suspense from the very first page, when we encounter the silent child in the Sadeniemis’ tulip bed, the little boy who says nothing and is missed by no one. Wolf Cub is a nail-biting novel one can’t help but devour at speed. Readers of Johanna’s previous books will recognise her voice: intelligent, elegant, suffused by violence, dark. But this time she’s added pace and mystery, creating a first-class thriller with an authority that commands admiration. I envy those who haven’t yet read this book for the experience you have ahead of you.”

Wolf Cub

Johanna Holmström

An atmospheric literary crime novel about desire and fanaticism by an award-winning fiction author

✓ Johanna Holmström is the winner of the Karin Boye Literature Prize 2023, Svenska Dagbladets Literature Prize 2009, The Svenska Yles Literature Prize 2009 and was nominated for the Runeberg Prize in 2018 and in 2023

One day, a dirty and unfamiliar little boy stands in Seija’s tulip bed. Upon seeing his open eyes, her motherly heart overflows, but the boy refuses to say a word–only a memory card is found in his mouth. Police Inspector Minna and her sidekick Timo are called, but no one has reported a missing child. Who is the boy and where does he come from?

When the photographer Gloria moves into a collective in the forest, she feels that she has found her home. She enjoys the freedom and companionship, blind to what is going on around her. And when the truth is finally revealed, it is too late for her to escape.

This relentless thriller is set in Kuhmo, northern Finland, in a wilderness as wonderfully beautiful as it is terrifying.

Rights sold:
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag (orig.),

FINLAND: Förlaget & Otava

About author


Johanna Holmström

Johanna Holmström is one of the most successful Finnish-Swedish writers of her generation. Her works have been published in over 10 countries.

She made her debut at 21 years old with the short story collection Inlåst och andra noveller in 2003, and was nominated for Sveriges Radio’s award. She had her literary breakthrough in 2009 with her fourth book, the short story collection Camera Obscura, which received both Svenska Dagbladet's literature prize in Sweden and Svenska YLE's literature prize in Finland.

Her novel Asfaltsänglar (2013) has been published in seven countries.  With Själarnas ö (2017), her acclaimed novel centered around women in a mental hospital in the Finnish archipelago from the late 1800s–1962, Holmström was nominated for the prestigious Runeberg Prize in 2018. Her short story collection Handbok i klardrömmar (2022) was the first Finnish-Swedish title to receive the Karin Boye prize in Sweden. Vargens unge (2024) is published by Albert Bonniers.

In her writing, Johanna Holmström explores the darker sides of human nature in a psychologically credible way. She writes about relationships and power structures within the family and society. Holmström is one of Finland's most skilled at environmental portrayal, and for her the environment is at least as central as the characters when it comes to creating drama. She has a narrative drive that few can match, without forgetting to maintain a top class and wayward language.

Photo credit: Thron Ullberg / Otava

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Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Wolf Cub

Johanna Holmström

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