Original title: Mantelimaa
Author: Miina Supinen
Published: 2013
Publisher: WSOY
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 300
Reading material
English sample & synopsis
Sometimes even Christmas has a sinister heart.
Deep in the Finnish wilderness stands a glittery theme park called Jingle Land, ruled by eccentric megalomaniac Veikko H. Halkio. His vision for a land where Christmas is eternal includes strippers dressed as sexy elves, hordes of creepy animatronic reindeer and the world’s largest chocolate fountain. In order to complete his dream, Veikko desperately yearns for his boyhood crush, Molli, to perform at the park.
Molli and Veikko share a dark secret, and she has spent most of her life trying to put the incident behind her. Now a happily married mother of two, she wants nothing to do with his holiday-obsessed extravaganza. But when a devastating accident leaves her as the sole breadwinner, she has to accept Veikko’s offer.
Although rehearsing an avant-garde Christmas show awakens some of Molli’s long-dormant ambitions as a performer, she soon encounters buried secrets at Jingle Land – both in Veikko’s potentially criminal business operations and deep underneath the park. There are some elements of Jingle Land of which even Veikko appears to be unaware.