Four Birthdays and a Funeral

Four Birthdays and a Funeral tells about longlasting friendships, ”it’s complicated” love affairs, secrets and sorrows that are kept hidden and what it really means to become an adult. And how a tight group of friends can remain close if one of them dies.

✓ For the fans of Becky Albertalli and John Green a new contemporary YA novel from Salla Simukka.
✓Salla Simukka is the recipient of the Topelius Prize 2013 and Finland Prize 2013 and has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award every year since 2021.
✓ Her Snow White trilogy was sold into 53 territories
✓ Her previous middle-grade novel The Secret Staiscase was nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2024 in Children's & YA Literature!

An entire lifetime could fit into a year when you turn 18.

Four youths, four birthdays - and a funeral. Salla Simukka’s latest YA novel unveils, bit by bit, the greatest sorrows and secrets of a group of friends.

Sara, Elle, Amir, and Eetu have been a tightly-knit group of friends since they were eight years old. They have shared everything with each other and have been inseparable. Now, the year has come when they all turn 18. Reaching adulthood means different things to each of them. Could adulthood inexorably drive them apart? How many secrets could be contained in a friendship? And what things have happened in the past that have been left undealt with?

The time has come to blow the candles and make a wish.