
Original title: Erään kissan tutkimuksia
Author: Katja Kettu
Published: 2023
Publisher: Otava
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 380
Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
Katja Kettu’s stunning novel spins through ages whilst surrendering to the wilderness of nature and the deep yearning for offspring.
Can one find solace and meaning in life from the past once the future no longer exists?
An Author has a miscarriage and loses their ability to speak and write. From the Investigative Bureau of Heavens, a Detective is sent to the scene, but something goes awry. Soon, in the corner of the room, there appears Cat who starts examining a mysterious diary that once belonged to the Author’s Great Grandmother.
When a new life has been lost, the Author turns their gaze to the past and to the age-old words of creation in the old Finnish outskirts. The one who knows them, Great Grandmother, has the power of healers. The Great Grandmother’s diary sheds light on birth and death, love towards children, and the strength of heritage in one’s blood.
Combining autofiction and elements of magical realism, Katja Kettu’s latest novel also sheds light on the history of the Finnish frontiers.
The attractiveness of Kettu’s novels smoulders in its multipaced idioms, the rhythm of its words, the mythological material [used in the novels] and historiography… [---] THE INVESTIGATIONS OF A CERTAIN CAT succeeds in being an impressive depiction of the building blocks of being human and intergenerational experiences that shape selfhoods even after long journeys.
– Sanna Jääskeläinen in Savon Sanomat newspaper
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
CZECHIA: Argo
DENMARK: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ITALY: Mondadori
NORWAY: Pax Forlag
ROMANIA: Humanitas
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers