Nordic Horror Series: Book 4: Murder Ballads

Never meet your idol.

  • Nordic Horror: When the days are short, the nightmares are long – YA horror with a Nordic twist!

Book #4 Murder Ballads is a standalone title in the Nordic Horror Series.

Will Krista manage to lift the demonic demo song curse before the Murder ballads will kill everyone?

Krista is a talented guitarist and singer who dreams of stardom with her wedding band. During her high school internship at a psychiatric hospital, Krista meets her heavy metal idol, the iconic lead singer of the legendary Pagan Angels. After helping the singer escape from the hospital with the help of some bandmates, Krista is rewarded with a notorious demo tape, that was thought to be lost. However, when the murder ballads come back to life, the curse must be broken and the monsters that became flesh must be destroyed.


Naraka

The sequel to SANG takes the reader back to Fusang and the world where Kong Dawei is faced with impossible choices.

  • Part 2 in a fantasy duology by the talented YA writer and TikTok star Elina Pitkäkangas!
  • SANG won the Topelius Award 2023!
  • Praised by readers and critics for its convincing world-building, multifaceted characters and cinematic descriptions
  • Rare representation of sign language in YA

The new novel about war and human relations by the winner of the Topelius Prize

Kong Dawei has returned to his home region, but nothing is the same. The second book of the duology, loved by readers and praised by experts, is a vivid and an intensive novel about war, morals, and ever holding love.

The sequel of the top-rated book SANG presents Fusang’s region Naraka, a workcamp where the unfortunate citizens are sent. The resistance is growing there. When Kong Dawei finds himself in the middle of The Iron Revolution, he must face the boundaries of his loyalty. Whose side does he want to be on? Can there be winners in the war?

Praise for Sang:

The dystopian novel upholds a beautiful and dark atmosphere in the state of Fusang. Sang is an epic story about a youngster trying to fight against the impossible circumstances of a totalitarian state. Kong Dawei joins the rebels, and breathtaking events follow one another. Pitkäkangas’ skill to conjure with believable details a whole world is enchanting. Our choices create a chain which not only joins us together, but also in the end defines who and what we are. Sang is a story about love, but above all it is a story about morale: all the things we are ready to do for one another.”   – the Topelius Award jury

“In the dystopian world recovering from a brutal war the different societal classes are miles apart, and the distance grows with a citizenship debt to be paid yearly. [–] Pitkäkangas describes the inequality and abuse of power skillfully. Warmth and balance is brought by the love between the brothers, but also romantic love and sexual desire. The object of the feelings is a friend, another boy, and the queer theme fits Sang without a fault.” – Arla Kanerva in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

“Elina Pitkäkangas is an incredibly skilled storyteller. The story of Sang sucks me in before I can blink. With all my senses, I’m deep in the story, thanks to the detailed descriptions. I love it when I can feel so many emotions when reading a book – sadness, joy, anger, relief, happiness… [–] I also want to applaud the representation and using sensitivity readers. This is how a good book is made!” – Paperimato bookstagram


Nordic Horror Series: Book 5: Children of the Midnight Sun

A remote island. The mystery of murdered children. A nightmare in the middle of the most beautiful midsummer.

  • Nordic Horror: When the days are short, the nightmares are long – YA horror with a Nordic twist!

Book #5 Children of the Midnight Sun is a standalone title in the Nordic Horror Series.

16-year-old Dia is sent to spend the summer with her grandmother on a remote island, where a dark secret is revealed.

Dia is returning from her violin lesson when a menacing group of youths begin to follow her. Dia can escape them with the help of magic she learned as a child and the youth get lost in the forest. However, Dia is soon accused of drugging them. As punishment, she is sent to live with her grandmother on a remote island she fears. Dia is forced to confront her old fears and ends up in danger while solving the mystery of murdered children from decades ago.

The Nordic Horror series is a new horror series from the Nordics, where down-to-earth realism, northern darkness and cold, mystery, murder and mythology are woven together into a nightmarish drapery in the darkest corners of welfare society.


Sang

An epic novel about love and power in a fictional East Asia of the future!

When a person’s value is determined by money and happiness by family, what will be left when both are ripped away?

  • The first novel in a new fantasy duology by the talented YA writer and TikTok star Elina Pitkäkangas!
  • Winner of the Topelius Award 2023!
  • Praised by readers and critics for its convincing world-building, multifaceted characters and cinematic descriptions
  • Rare representation of sign language in YA

The state of Fusang is recovering from a war that ravaged the world. 16-year-old Kong Dawei, an earnest young man, is living in a poor mountain village and tries to pay his adopted siblings’ citizen dues by transporting contraband goods at night.

After a series of unfortunate events, Dawei ends up in the southern capital which is ruled by the cruel matriarch of the White Tiger Clan. When there is nothing else to lose, Dawei has only one goal: to get back to his loved ones, his brother Ren and his friend and love interest Dray– whatever it takes.

Sang is an addictive fantasy novel that travels through cold mountains and humid cities, noisy bazaars and opulent halls, and the world after the Black Rain, in which one’s value is measured in money.

Praise:

The dystopian novel upholds a beautiful and dark atmosphere in the state of Fusang. Sang is an epic story about a youngster trying to fight against the impossible circumstances of a totalitarian state. Kong Dawei joins the rebels, and breathtaking events follow one another. Pitkäkangas’ skill to conjure with believable details a whole world is enchanting. Our choices create a chain which not only joins us together, but also in the end defines who and what we are. Sang is a story about love, but above all it is a story about morale: all the things we are ready to do for one another.”   – the Topelius Award jury

“In the dystopian world recovering from a brutal war the different societal classes are miles apart, and the distance grows with a citizenship debt to be paid yearly. [–] Pitkäkangas describes the inequality and abuse of power skillfully. Warmth and balance is brought by the love between the brothers, but also romantic love and sexual desire. The object of the feelings is a friend, another boy, and the queer theme fits Sang without a fault.” – Arla Kanerva in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

“Elina Pitkäkangas is an incredibly skilled storyteller. The story of Sang sucks me in before I can blink. With all my senses, I’m deep in the story, thanks to the detailed descriptions. I love it when I can feel so many emotions when reading a book – sadness, joy, anger, relief, happiness… [–] I also want to applaud the representation and using sensitivity readers. This is how a good book is made!” – Paperimato bookstagram

The dystopian novel upholds a beautiful and dark atmosphere in the state of Fusang. Sang is an epic story about a youngster trying to fight against the impossible circumstances of a totalitarian state. Kong Dawei joins the rebels, and breathtaking events follow one another. Pitkäkangas’ skill to conjure with believable details a whole world is enchanting. Our choices create a chain which not only joins us together, but also in the end defines who and what we are. Sang is a story about love, but above all it is a story about morale: all the things we are ready to do for one another.

the Topelius Award jury


Stormseye

A beautiful historical fantasy debut – Topelius Prize Winner 2020! 

Nominated for both Kuvastaja Award and Finlandia Prize for Children’s & YA literature 2020.

Stormseye is an adventure set in the ancient Finnish fantasy world, and a touching story about a young woman finding her own place in the society.

On the white night of the summer solstice, 16-year-old Kainu stands at the edge of rings of earth drawn on the ground in her coming of age ritual. Young girls in her village discover their future role in life by taking part in this ancient “rite of the rings”. The rings they land on determine their role in the community, as matrons, mothers, or craftswomen. The five inner rings are reserved for shamans and sages, and no one has landed on the innermost ring, the tenth ring, in over 500 years.

However, when Kainu enters the innermost ring, that of a Great Sage, heavy responsibilities fall on her, and she has to go on a long journey to find out who she really is.

Awards & Nominations

Winner or the Topelius Prize 2020

Nominated for Finlandia Prize for Children’s & YA literatue 2020

Nominated for Kuvastaja award 2020

Praise:

“Situated in an Ancient Finnish fantasyworld, this debut novel is an excellent story of personal growth, dealing with themes of loneliness, of being different and of overcoming your own fears.” –The Jury of the Topelius Prize 2020

“Meri Luttinen is a skillful writer, her debut novel Myrskynsilmä is a masterful story that progresses effortlessly.” – Kirjavinkit blog

Stormseye has a smooth flow and it progresses at a good pace. The book is a nice read and I enjoyed its imagery.” – ruusunnuppuja blog

“Luttinen writes impressively beautifully, and the aroma of Nordic pine forests engulfs the senses.” – Sinisethelmet Blog

“The language of the book is highly nuanced, and the narrative flows like a gushy stream. Despite its volume, the novel is a real page-turner. – Lastenkirjahylly Blog

“The Finlandia Prize Nominee YA book Stormseye expands on the subject of being seen and being seen in the right way. — The story haunted me.” – Kangasalan Sanomat newspaper

“Placed in an Ancient Finnish fantasy world, this debut novel is an excellent story of personal growth, dealing with themes of loneliness, being different, and overcoming your own fears.”

The Jury of the Topelius Prize


The Crossing of the Green Dragon

The Crossing of the Green Dragon is a YA thriller about loss and the power of friendship. About things you don’t want to reveal to adults. About a world where fear and hope are entangled in each other, and where nobody makes it on their own.

  • New YA thriller by Finland’s best-selling female crime writer!
  • Leena Lehtolainen has sold over 2,5 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 30 languages! In the US, only Jo Nesbø has been translated more!

Who has painted the image of a green dragon taking flight on the electronic box at the crossroads? Why does it keep appearing again and again, despite being washed and painted over?

High school freshman Viggo knows that the original painting was done by his brother Joel shortly before his disappearance. Joel used to play Japanese mahjong and the green dragon was his favorite tile in the game. Joel has been missing for over two years and the police have no leads whatsoever. Did he leave of his own volition or is he the victim of a crime?

Selma and her friend Sennu Koivu used to go and see the painting. Sennu, the daughter of a Vietnamese Chinese mother, used to play an Eastern dragon in their childhood games and Selma the Western one. Together, the girls came up with the language of the dragons that nobody else could understand. Sennu has since passed away, and Selma often visits the dragon to seek connection with her deceased friend.

Selma’s sibling Savu has worries of their own. A gang idolizing roadman culture has managed to extort Savu to join them in stealing designer clothes. Selma doesn’t want to idly watch Savu’s demise. Can she gather the courage to share her worries with her former best friend’s father, who works in the police department’s youth intervention unit?


In the Dark I Can Be Yours

If your love can only be a secret, will it last?

✓  Salla Simukka is Finland’s most internationally bestselling author with the Snow White Trilogy sold in 52 territories!

Varpu and Saga are two sixteen-year-old girls that are forced to stay in their hometown for the summer. After just one drunken kiss, prejudice and identity are shattered and it’s revealed how, behind the facade, everyone hurts and loves the same. In The Dark I Can be Yours is a touching and beautiful title about great emotions in the summer.

The authentic characters are supported by Simukka’s light and airy narrative. Each side of the book tells one girl’s story, which effortlessly melts together into a summer of love, insecurities, and the exploration of two young people.


Dragonfly

  • Independent prequel to 2021 Finlandia winner Where the Light Comes In!
  • Topelius Prize Nominee 2020
  • Young Aleksis Award Nominee 2021
  • Rights sold to Editions Milan in France in a two-book deal!

A shocking, brilliantly told story about resistance in an unequal society.   Two young women, Satomi and Mai have always stuck together. They were born in an internment village on an island that was called Japan before sea level rose. They are non-citizens whose purpose is to serve full citizens.

On good nights they go to the seaside together to wade. They still have that, even if everything else has been taken away from them.

Then Commander Rafikov takes Mai to make her a Nymph.

And Satomi can’t just wait anymore.

“I’m standing here and coming apart inside, just like that. I’m only thinking of the end.”


My Ugly Diary

A contemporary and touching YA novel about the courage to be yourself and finding your own people.

  • Mari Kujanpää won the Finlandia Prize in 2009
  • Deals with body image, bullying and the pressure on teenagers to always be Instagram-ready

“Everyone else has a purpose, and they always walk without looking at their surroundings. Someone’s waiting for them somewhere. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not expected anywhere. Yet my feet are moving me somewhere”.

Age 14, shoe size 42, height 175 centimetres, cup size AA and a hideously ugly face, that’s how Malva is defined. She knows she is ugly, and the other pupils remind her of it daily with words and looks. Malva escapes to art and nature. Then along comes Runo, who is passionate about the same things.

My Ugly Diary is a delicate story about how a bullied girl hating her own reflection slowly recovers from the anxiety of her looks. Everyone who has been insecure about their looks can relate to Malva’s experiences.

Finlandia award-winner Mari Kujanpää writes directly and sympathetically about subjects that touch young readers.


Where the Light Comes In

What is a person if you take away their memory? Who determines what we believe? A captivating story of rebellion, hope, and humanity..

  • Finlandia Prize winner – The best Children’s & Young Adult title in Finland 2021!
  • Finlandia Prize audience favorite 2021!
  • Winner of the Young Aleksis Award 2022
  • Rights sold to Editions Milan in France in a two-book deal!

Aleksei is a young man whose father runs a human research institute in Tokyo, which is now partly covered by the sea. New batches of test subjects regularly arrive at the facility, including one with Satomi, a young woman whose memory is set to be erased. Satomi becomes Aleksei’s trial case, since he is meant to continue his father’s work. But something is already churning beneath the surface, and the younger generation can see the horrors of the system their parents have created.

Finlandia Award winner Anne-Maija Aalto’s Where the Light Comes In is the dystopian love story of two very different characters with different values set in a water-covered former Japan. It is a stand-alone sequel to Aalto’s acclaimed novel Dragonfly and a tremendously skillful, captivating story of rebellion, hope and humanity. It was selected as the winner of the Finlandia Prize for Children’s & Young Adult Literature by futurist and non-fiction author Perttu Pölönen.


A Beautiful Day to Die

Isra has decided to die. But before that she needs to complete a rescue mission! Embark on a road trip with Isra, her friend Leo, 900 euros and a stolen sky-blue Hyundai.

Leo and Isra are not the most popular kids of their high school. They don’t have high expectations, and nobody expects much of them. So why not take a break from school – and a break from life, and try to do something meaningful before it’s all too late?

Funny, realistic and tragic story of teenagers who don’t know what they want, and are tired of trying to figure it out on their own.


Detained

Nobody should be punished for crimes they didn’t commit. What about crimes they were going to commit in the future?

Fifty teenagers aged 16-17 are introduced to a fully automated prison with no guards or other staff. Probability calculations have shown that each of them will commit a crime at some time in their lives that will send them to prison.

This is their last chance. They must solve their future crimes, confess them in the prison’s Confession Room, and demonstrate remorse. If they do, they will be set free. If they fail to discover their crimes before they reach age eighteen, they will remain in prison to serve their full sentences.

A new YA hit by bestselling author Salla Simukka, whose previous Snow White trilogy sold to 52 countries around the world.


Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Pegasus


Imaginary Girl

Young love is often fragile and tragic. But it’s also beautiful and unforgettable. Discover the story of the Imaginary Girl in this breathtaking graphic novel.

#growingup #loneliness #relationships #womanhood #youth #so90s #mysocalledlife #teenagedreams

Imaginary Girl is about the relationships of children, teens and adults: the bittersweet friendships, the crushes that make you feel paralyzed, the terrifying fear of being invisible – and the fear of being noticed.

Perfect for adults and young adults both!


Sensored Reality 2: Glitch

Set in Helsinki as it struggles through the harsh hyper winter, 17-year old Minako, nicknamed Bug, faces enemies both in video games and in real life. Her mother has disappeared, and the more Bug investigates the gaming corporation she works at, the more mysteries arise. Bug is also busy figuring out her own life: she has begun her studies at the prestigious game academy, but it isn’t easy being the most famous gamer in the world. Dangerous things are starting to happen in real life which should be taking place only in video-games. Can there be glitches in reality?


The Third Sister

Ciel and Lune are best friends and daughters of the two great witches of Royaume. Ciel, the daughter of the White Witch, is preparing for her rite of passage, the witch song ritual, which will show her true soul and future as a witch. When Ciel steps in front of the mirror of songs, a terrifying truth is revealed: she is a sanschant, a songless witch. The last sanschant there was, almost destroyed their whole world.

The girls must escape Royaume. They end up on the Earth, where they find refuge in a school, run by a creature called Principal and attended by otherworldly students. Especially one of them, Niemann, rocks Lune’s boat. Who is Niemann, why can’t Lune resist him? In Royaume, the White Witch is doing everything she can to relocate her daughter. The fate of their world is again at stake.

The Third Sister is a fantastic, manga-inspired adventure and the first installment in a new series called The Royaume Chronicles.


Turn off the Lights! Turn on the Lights!

A collection of ”little awesome stories and little awful stories” from Finland’s internationally most successful YA author.

What is the most awful or the most awesome thing that has happened to you? Salla Simukka’s anticipated new book includes little awful stories and little awesome stories about young people’s lives. Why are under-fifteens not allowed in the basement? What happened in Dog’s Head Park? Who makes nightly visits in Klara’s solitary confinement room? What does it take to make out with lights on?

The flip book Turn Off the Lights! Turn On the Lights! shows the both sides of the matter; the stories mirror each other in surprising and exhilarating ways, and the genres range from horror to romance to sci-fi and realism.


Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
LATVIA: Zvaigzne


Sensored Reality 1: Beta

Divergent meets Assassin’s Creed in this YA adventure set in a futuristic world where only video games offer an escape from rising sea levels.

It is 2117 in a flood-ridden world, 16-year-old Bug’s mother uproots their lives from Sea-Tokyo and moves her unwilling daughter to Helsinki Island after Bug’s father dies in an accident. Devastated, and rejected by her new schoolmates, Bug retreats in to the world of video games. When a mysterious parcel containing a virtual reality gaming suit arrives on her doorstep, Bug is drawn into a beta version of a new game set in feudal Japan. But the game proves to be more realistic and far more dangerous than expected.

Beta is the first novel in the YA series Sensored Reality, historically-inspired cyber trilogy about video games and virtual realities with suspicious corporations looming in the background. It also tells a relatable story of an outsider struggling with friendships and family ties.

The Sensored Reality series will continue, delving deeper into the conspiracies and mysteries of the corporation-ruled sunken world. Stay logged-in for more soon: Book 2: Glitch and Book 3: Replica to follow.


Witchbook

In this sequel to Bookwitch, Aura uses her powers of magic to venture from Helby to Helsinki in pursuit of the wicked witch Selma, and on a quest for the book that can save Helby. But Aura’s search for the book that contains the spells is like a hunt for a needle in a haystack: unlike Helby, Helsinki is full of books. Aura’s abilities are put to the test as she strives to save Helby, but at a cost…


Bookwitch

Bookwitch is a spellbinding Young Adult story set in a world where books are banned and witches rule in the realm of Helby, a parallel world to Helsinki as we know it. When seventeen-year-old Aura becomes an assistant at the House of Lost Dreams, little does she know she is about to discover a secret chamber full of books, and about her own destiny as a powerful witch who must face dark forces to save all that she loves. A gripping story about self-realization, betrayal and good triumphing evil.


The Smelly Hand: and Other Dreadful Stories from Uhriniituntakainen

Zombies, ghosts and bogeymen don’t exist. Are you sure?  In a small village like Uhriniituntakainen, you can never be sure of that . . .

The school chemistry teacher’s hand starts to smell worse day by day.

Irina and Hope catch the train to visit their granny one day and a thin woman with insect-like spectacles gets on the train.

A doll won in the lucky dip at the funfair turns out to be rather unusual.

A collection of creepy stories, The Smelly Hand promises to scare as well as entertain, while tackling weightier issues that trouble youngsters, such as bullying, divorcing parents, and loneliness.


The Beggar Princess

The 11-year-old rag collector Gigi was born a princess. After her father lost his crown in a violent uprising, the royal family of Umbrovia has been forced to live in hiding in a busy harbor town. But then one day Gigi and her best friend Henry learn that someone knows their secret, their home is attacked and her mother is taken away. Together with her loving but unpractical father, and the grumpy but kind werewolf Mussovits, they must do their best to save their family.

The Beggar Princess is the first installment in the trilogy Gigi & Henry, which follows the main characters lives from pre-teens to adulthood. The story is set in an alternative history of the 1860s and it mixes fast-paced, julesvernesque adventure story with inventive alternate history.


The Scale

Oona is angry. She’s so furious that she walks into the lake with all of her clothes on and swims farther than she ever has before – over to the other side. The water scrapes against her strangely, and she gets a deep cut.

On the opposite shore, the landscape has changed and the people seem slightly odd, and no one has a mobile phone. A flying lizard? A mind-reader? People living in sheds? Daylight scares them? When Oona starts working in a shoe factory, she understands that some kind of evil is enveloping the whole village. Why won’t anyone talk about it?

The Scale is a youth novel that flits as smoothly as a lizard from one time, and one reality, to another. It ladles out a mixture of recent history, vampire stories, and pure fantasy. What if the world was just the tiniest bit different – by a cat’s whisker or the width of a lizard’s scale?


The Servant of Dusk

Kaarina didn’t hesitate when Valeri asked her: – Will you come with me? I’m going to leave everything behind and start a new life.
The Servant of Dusk takes place in a world familiar from Sari Peltoniemi’s earlier fantasy novel, The Scale. Kaarina’s and Valeri’s ballad-like love story is intertwined with a fascinating alternative history and the timeless charm of fantasy – and with Jesse, whose game has turned into reality.


The Elven Son

A magnificient sequel to I Hear the Forest Calling.

The Elven Son is a mesmerizing story about the importance of finding one’s roots and a reminder of the significance of friends and family.
About to start high school, Jouni is still pondering where his mother is. Together with his sister, Saara, he tries to find the place where he was born, hoping to find a way to his mother. Jouni has a falling-out with his girlfriend and downs a bottle of wine right before his band is about to go on stage. Later, Jouni ignores the warnings of his teacher and goes out on the night of Halloween, only to find himself followed by the dead. Can his sister save him? And will they find their mother?


Freya and the Last Light

Freya’s dreams of stardom are almost a reality, but the world beyond the spotlight has gotten darker. Enemies new and old threaten to reduce her fledging empire to ashes, and perhaps all mankind with it. Victory has never seen further, but a desperate god is a dangerous thing, and with myths and monsters dogging her every step, Freya finds herself inspired to enlist a few of her own – if her unlikely new allies can stop trying to kill each other long enough to help, that is.


Freya and the Idol Industry

Freya’s quest to tip the scales against her enemies takes her to Hollywood, where the world of show business offers her unprecedented fame and fortune – at a price. With sinister enemies at her heels and an unknown threat lurking in the shadows, Freya will have to remain one step ahead of those out to destroy her and the people she loves.


Rights sold:

WORLD ENGLISH, Macmillan/Imprint


Freya and the Myth Machine

A thrilling new series about an ancient god in a modern world – hunted, forgotten, and unbowed

Free-spirited Sara Vanadi once lived as the Norse god Freya. Now she spends her days in a mental hospital in Orlando, Florida. One day an ominous man arrives with an unprecedented offer: Sara will be given limitless strength and legions of believers, should she agree to work with his masters…or face obliteration.


Rights sold:

KOREA, Design Comma
POLAND, Wydawnictwo Jaguar
WORLD ENGLISH, Macmillan/Imprint


Survival Game

John Green meets Lord of the Flies in the Nordic wilderness: a gritty and realistic survival story about the healing power of friendship.

Suffering from life-threatening burns at the Korpisalo hospital, Ozzy can’t hear, see or smell anything; he knows only that his mother, little sister and father are all gone. Ozzy’s father, the HR director of a local paper machine manufacturer, suffered a breakdown during a brutal round of layoffs and burned his house down, killing himself, Ozzy’s mother and his little sister. During brief moments of clarity Ozzy tries to turn his thoughts to his former boy scout troop on their annual winter hike – a trek that turns into a dangerous game of survival in freezing temperatures.

The town’s widespread economic hardships have created a new pecking order at the local high school. Tensions come to a head when ninth graders Jont, Snipe, Rambo, Little Joe, Telly and Ferrari leave for a survival hike in the freezing woods. Hunger and cold add to the stress – and above everything hovers a worry over Ozzy’s fate.


I Hear the Forest Calling

Nominated for the Topelius Prize 2012: A gripping tale that sweeps the reader along.

After a trip to Lapland, Jouni is confused to start with. Why does a skinny, tree-hugging woman appear in front of him both on the fells of Lapland and in the outskirts of his home town? Is he imagining it all – why does no one else see the woman? But when Jouni is on his way to a music shop with his best mate Mikko to buy a guitar, something happens to give him a profound scare.

‘I reckon what’s happened is that you’re being pursued by a spirit,’ says Romppainen when Jouni confides in his former teacher. ‘What I cannot tell you is why it’s happened and what it wants from you.’ Romppainen takes a thick volume called Mythical Tales down from the shelf.
‘This is not a tale,’ Jouni blurts out. This is real.’
‘Calm down. Sometimes fact and fiction are not as far apart as is generally thought.’

Jouni’s mother, a Koltta Sami, vanished when Jouni was little. Ever since, he has lived with his father and his sister Saara. Are the mysterious events somehow connected with his mother, is she under the spell of the forest magic or what has happened to her?  The eagle owl, which has settled down in Jouni’s garden, could probably answer if you could understand it.

Jouni begins to get to the bottom of the mystery with his friend Mikko. He is helped by the membership register of a Lapp community and Romppainen, the charismatic teacher who taught Jouni throughout his time at the primary school.

In addition to supernatural events, Jouni gets into a spin because of natural events. Romppainen’s daughter Matleena is at the same school and first love hits him like a sledgehammer. Fear and love, secrets and reality transform his life.


Storm Sisters, Book 3: The Ocean of Secrets

When enemies tear the group apart, a chase leads them to the heart of the American Revolutionary War. Suddenly, nothing is what it seems and the girls find themselves trapped in a web of deception and lies. As Charlie and Liu search for a hidden enemy, secrets that have been buried for decades float to the surface and threaten to drown them all.


RIGHTS SOLD:

FRANCE, Robert Laffont


Storm Sisters, Book 2: The Frozen Seas

Having uncovered several shocking secrets about their past, the girls continue their quest toward the frozen seas of Scandinavia, with Liu’s vengeful father Zhang Tao, the mysterious Countess and the leader of the Sapphire East Trading Company at their heels. As they approach the Scandinavian royal court for help, with assistance from the Castaways, a brotherly group of misfit pirates, new tensions and buried truths come to light.


RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND, Tammi (Books 1–2)
FRANCE, Robert Laffont (Books 1–5)
GERMANY, Bastei Lübbe (digital; Book 1)
HUNGARY, JCS Media (Books 1–2)
INDONESIA, Gramedia (Books 1–2)
SPAIN, Planeta (Books 1-2)
WORLD ENGLISH, Bastei Lübbe (digital; Book 1)


Traced

The Wolf Creek Series, Book IV

Raisa and Mikael are spending their first summer together in Helsinki. Everything feels perfect until Raisa begins to realize what everybody means when they talk about a werewolf needing another werewolf as a partner. Determined not to give up, she joins Mikael and her brother on their mission to help the pack in Wolf Creek where people scared of wolves are stirring trouble. Then Mikael is captured, kicking off a series of events that cause Raisa to discover something shocking about her own identity.


Storm Sisters, Book 1: The Sinking World

Storm Sisters offers a feminine twist on the traditional pirate story: Spice Girls meets Pirates of the Caribbean!

After the tragic events of what has become known as The Day of Destruction – a day when they were intended to die along with their families – Charlie, Sadie, Liu, Raquel and Ingela find themselves on the high seas all alone. While a group of girls living on their own isn’t the norm in the 1780s, the Storm Sisters are starting to realize that making the impossible possible is what they do best.

The girls strive to maintain their legacy as part of a covert and ancient organization known as The Storm. Their primary mission, however, is to survive so that they can find out what really happened to their parents. Amidst pirates, hurricanes, and other hidden enemies, this is not an easy task.


RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND, Tammi (Books 1–2)
FRANCE, Robert Laffont (Books 1–5)
GERMANY, Bastei Lübbe (digital; Book 1)
HUNGARY, JCS Media (Books 1–2)
INDONESIA, Gramedia (Books 1–2)
SPAIN, Planeta (Books 1-2)
WORLD ENGLISH, Bastei Lübbe (digital; Book 1)


Hunted

The Wolf Creek Series, Book III

Mikael, the new leader of the pack at Wolf Creek and the love of Raisa’s life, has left, and Raisa gets off to a disastrous start at the Academy of Fine Arts. But when she has to track down her brother Mitja, she is thrown into an adventure on a mystical Greek island involving Daemons, creatures who have the ability to interact with Plato’s “world of ideas.” When Raisa escapes the island with Mitja, she encounters the wolves, and Mikael, once more.

 


Endangered

The Wolf Creek Series, Book II

Having returned to Helsinki, Raisa is trying her best to let go of what happened to her in Wolf Creek. But her great love, Mikael, is not easy to forget, the wolves are calling her, and Wolf Creek has not yet revealed all of its secrets. If you can’t trust own feelings – whom can you trust?


Rights sold:
CHINA (simplified Chinese), Modern Press


Untamed

The Wolf Creek Series, Book I

Set in northern Finland, Untamed is a romance between a girl and a wolf.

Raisa is an ambitious young artist living in downtown Helsinki. When her mother dies in an accident, she has to move to a rural village in the middle of nowhere to live with her uncle. She soon realizes that she is living among werewolves. Gradually, Raisa begins to adjust to life in this strange town, and finds herself drawn to Mikael, the most popular boy in school. He has eyes that change colour; eyes that seem to be following Raisa. But what are Mikael and the other locals hiding? And why was Raisa sent to live here?


Rights sold:
CHINA (simplified Chinese), Modern Press


Maresi: Red Mantle

The Red Abbey Chronicles, Book III

Maresi: Red Mantle is the third novel in The Red Abbey Chronicles, a historically inspired fantasy saga, aimed at young adult audiences. Maresi (book 1) is a tale of friendship and survival, set in the Red Abbey, a refuge for women and girls that undergoes an attack. Naondel (book 2) tells the story of the First Sisters: how they fled from a harem and founded the abbey.

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.


Rights sold: The Red Abbey Chronicles
Original publisher: FINLAND, Schildts & Söderströms (Book 1)
Original publisher: FINLAND, Förlaget (Books 2-3)
BELGIUM, Clavis (Book 1-2)
BRAZIL, Morro Branco (Books 1-3)
BULGARIA, Izida (Books 1-3)
CANADA (French), Editions de la Bagnole (Book 1)
CHINA (Simplified), Shanghai 99 (Books 1-3)
DENMARK, Turbine (Book 1)
ESTONIA, Varrak (Book 1-2)
FINLAND, Tammi (Books 1-2)
FRANCE, Rageot (Books 1-2)
GERMANY, Random House/Heyne (Book 1)
HUNGARY, Scolar (Books 1-3)
ITALY, Atmosphere Libri (Books 1-3)
LATVIA, Petergailis (Book 1)
NETHERLANDS, Clavis (Book 1-2)
NORWAY, Gursli Berg Forlag (Books 1-3)
POLAND, Wydawnictwo Debit (Books 1-3)
ROMANIA, Univers (Book 1)
WORLD SPANISH, Penguin Random House/Alfaguara (Book 1)
SWEDEN, Berghs (Books 1-2)
TURKEY, Altın Kitaplar (Book 1)
UNITED KINGDOM, Pushkin Press (Books 1-3)
UNITED STATES, Abrams (Books 1-3)


Naondel

The Red Abbey Chronicles, Book II.

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.


Rights sold:

Original publisher: FINLAND, Schildts & Söderströms (Book 1)
Original publisher: FINLAND, Förlaget (Books 2-3)
BELGIUM, Clavis (Book 1-2)
BRAZIL, Morro Branco (Books 1-3)
BULGARIA, Izida (Books 1-3)
CANADA (French), Editions de la Bagnole (Book 1)
CHINA (Simplified), Shanghai 99 (Books 1-3)
DENMARK, Turbine (Book 1)
ESTONIA, Varrak (Book 1-2)
FINLAND, Tammi (Books 1-2)
FRANCE, Rageot (Books 1-2)
GERMANY, Random House/Heyne (Book 1)
HUNGARY, Scolar (Books 1-3)
ITALY, Atmosphere Libri (Books 1-3)
LATVIA, Petergailis (Book 1-2)
NETHERLANDS, Clavis (Book 1-2)
NORWAY, Gursli Berg Forlag (Books 1-3)
POLAND, Wydawnictwo Debit (Books 1-3)
ROMANIA, Univers (Book 1)
WORLD SPANISH, Penguin Random House/Alfaguara (Book 1)
SWEDEN, Berghs (Books 1-2)
TURKEY, Altın Kitaplar (Book 1)
UNITED KINGDOM, Pushkin Press (Books 1-3)
UNITED STATES, Abrams (Books 1-3)


Praise for Naondel from the U.S.

“…complex, multilayered, and wholly believable. […]  Feminists of all ages will appreciate this positive portrayal of a matriarchy.”  Booklist

“This volume is a tapestry of interwoven tales of the women. Each thread plays a role. Despite their often adversarial positions, they find strength, hope, and even friendship in one another. They unite to survive Iskan’s unspeakable cruelty and brutality. VERDICT: Highly recommended for all libraries serving older teens.” – School Library Journal

Praise for Naondel in the UK:

“A haunting fable.” Suzi FeayFinancial Times

Combines a flavour of The Handmaid’s Tale with bursts of excitement reminiscent of Harry Potter’s duels.”  Observer

Should appeal to fans of Ursula K. Le Guin… A lucid, layered, deeply engaging story.”  Metro

Stands out for its startling originality, and for the frightening plausibility of the dangerous world it creates. Telegraph

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

Epic in its scope, intimate in its observation: if Maresi felt like encountering a rare and blazing talent, Naondel is here to brand the certainty under your skin.”  Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2017 winner The Girl of Ink and Stars

A prequel that introduces the founding sisters of the all-female Red Abbey… their interwoven stories told with unflinching clarity, rise to a vengeful climax with the glow of the red moon, and will stay with the reader long after the book is closed. […] Turtschaninoff weaves a hypnotic spell…at once contemporary and timeless.”– Guardian

An unforgettable feminist epic, shot through with hypnotic dark charm. […]Dark, powerful and original…it really stands out in a crowded YA marketplace. Thrilling, suspenseful and gloriously feminist.” – The Bookseller

A beautifully painted, fantastical setting like no other; this story will resonate with me for a long time to come.– Ben Alderson, booktuber

Reading it, I felt empowered. I felt proud to be a woman, and of who I am.  Once Upon a Bookcase

5 Words: Power, control, feminism, survival, magic.”– Tea Party Princess

I cannot recommend this book enough, whether you’ve read Maresi or not. If you enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale or Only Ever Yours then you’ll love this. It’s tragic and painful and hopeful and empowering and I just loved it  Maia and a Little Moore

 

Praise for Naondel from Scandinavia:

“A suggestive depiction of a world where girls are oppressed but have the power to break free.” – Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Sweden

“Dark, painful, sublime. […] Naondel is Turtschaninoff’s most impressive work to date. – Kyrkpressen newspaper, Sweden

“Naondel is a strong fantasy novel, which in spite of its stark content offers an empowering read. The suffering women in the novel possess warmth and an edge, which move the reader. It’s easy to compare the book to the best of Ursula K. Le Guin’s later works.” –  Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Finland

“A source of dark power. […] It’s not often that I devour a novel these days. Most books remain words and text; seldom do the worlds and bodies stay with me. Naondel pulled me in with a dangerous power and consumed me. I came out the other side a little shaken.” Yle.fi Svenska, Finland

“A unique brand of feminism in fantastic packaging.Hufvudstadsbladet newspaper, Finland

“In Naondel Maria Turtschaninoff keeps track of seven different voices – with verve.” Västra Nyland newspaper, Finland

 “Turtschaninoff is good, she is world class, which Naondel proves if you have not read her before.” – Enhörningen magazine, Finland 

“So, this book!! It’s like Game of Thrones, though so much better. And all from a woman’s perspective!”Prickiga Paula blog, Sweden

“It’s crazy good. It is like a good choir where all the voices are needed and it all rises to a whole new level. [I]love Naondel and really want to read more Maria Turtschaninoff…” Carolina Reads blog, Sweden

“Maresi is a straight forward and down to earth story, whereas Naondel is far more intricate and epic.” – Catahya blog, Sweden


Minute Waltz

Simukka’s dazzling debut novels rereleased by Tammi in 2015!

After graduating high school, Kirsikka and Susanna move to a new city together. Kirsikka adjusts to university life, while Susanna reflects on her relationship to her mother, who passed away many years earlier. Faced with the thrills, challenges and insecurities of adult life, the two contemplate the consequences of increasingly weightier choices. How much can be overcome by love?


When Angels look away

Simukka’s dazzling debut novels rereleased by Tammi in 2015!

Kirsikka is a high school student and aspiring writer with a supportive family and group of friends. The people closest to her know and accept the fact that Kirsikka is interested in girls. However, when she develops a crush on her classmate Susanna, Kirsikka fears Susanna’s reaction and is afraid to tell her the truth. As their friendship deepens, so does Kirsikka’s infatuation.

Pouring out her thoughts into her writing, Kirsikka struggles to read Susanna’s feelings, and find a way to share her own. It’s as simple as love – except nothing about first love is ever simple.


Without a Trace

Have you ever wished that everyone else in the world would just disappear? You’d better watch out what you wish for.

Emmi Aalto is a 15-year-old girl who feels like she doesn’t have anything. She hasn’t figured out what she’s good at in school yet; she’s still just a “Potential”. Her family doesn’t seem to pay any attention to her at home. And she has never had any friends. Emmi decides to run away, so she could at least  become the girl who disappeared. But when she comes back home, there’s no one there. Or next door. Or in the entire town. Everyone has disappeared – or have they?

Without a Trace is a mysterious story of the near future, where being normal is nothing. It is also a suspense-filled mystery that sends an avalanche of questions sliding down in front of Emmi. What happened? Who can she trust? Who are her friends? Does she dare to fall in love? Who is sending her fairytales clues, and what are they trying to communicate? Without a Trace tells about loneliness that isn’t inevitable after all, and the courage that lies within.

Elsewhere, a sequel that contains the missing pieces of the puzzle from Without a Trace, was released in Fall 2012.


Rights sold: Belgium, Netherlands


Winner of the Topelius Prize