Rights & Brands Adult Fiction Rights Guide Spring 2026

Rights & Brands

Adult Fiction Rights Guide

Spring 2026

publishing@rightsandbrands.com

www.rightsandbrands.com

facebook/rightsandbrands

instagram/rightsandbrands

linkedin/rights&brands

About Rights & Brands

Rights & Brands is a Scandinavian agency promoting art, literature, and design brands that aim to inspire a global audience with stories and a vision for a better world.

Starting from a strategic base in literature, art and design, R&B’s platform is built on knowledge, passion and people. Using all aspects of character representation and branding, from publishing and PR to licensing, merchandising and digital development, with a worldwide network of sub-agents and over 800 clients, R&B’s international insight and business capacity is unique.

Rights & Brands represents iconic Nordic brands, artists and authors and is the worldwide master agent on behalf of Moomin Characters. Other representation includes Sofie Sarenbrant & Carina Bergfeldt, Arne Dahl & Jonas Moström, Jenny Rogneby, Olli Jalonen, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, Asko Sahlberg, Mads Peder Nordbo, Cristina Sandu, Petra Rautiainen, Arto Paasilinna (Estate), and Tove Jansson (Estate).

With its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden and local branches in Helsinki, Oslo, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, R&B was founded in 2016 by Moomin Characters and Bulls, combining over 70 years of licensing experience.

Rights & Brands Stockholm

Rosenlundsgatan 31 118 63 Stockholm Sweden

Rights & Brands Helsinki

Salmisaarenranta 7 L 00180 Helsinki Finland

Commerical Fiction Vermilion by Fredrik Schantz p. 4

Historical Fiction (1600s) In the Shadows of the Seven Spires by Ulla Rask p. 5

Historical Fiction (1900s) The Hangö series by Karin Collins p. 6

Fiction A Pure, Vibrant Life by Olli

p. 12

New Releases p. 4-15

Crime & Thriller p. 16-19

Commercial Fiction p. 20

Upmarket Fiction p. 21-27

Literary Fiction p. 28-30

Classic Fiction p. 31-34

Crime & Thriller The Traitor by Arne Dahl & Jonas Moström p. 10

FREDRIK SCHANTZ was adopted from India as a child and grew up in Gothenburg, where he lives and works in corporate learning & development. Vermilion is his debut and he is currently working on a second novel, also featuring art specialist Bea Wilson.

@fredrik_schantz_writer

Vermilion

(Konturen av henne)

First published in Swedish by HarperCollins Nordic / April 2026 / 320 pp.

An absorbing art mystery debut about a masterpiece with a secret and two women’s interlinked fates one hundred years apart.

A mysterious painting is discovered in a Gothenburg loft, purported to be a forgotten masterpiece by Amedeo Modigliani. Bea Wilson, a thirty-three year-old specialist at a Stockholm auction house, is asked to establish the painting’s authenticity at the same time as she is forced to quit her job, taking the fall for a forgery sold by the auction house and her relationship hits the rocks. To salvage her professional reputation and keep her mind off her shaky domestic life, Bea embarks on a race against time before the painting is destroyed, taking her from the archives of Copenhagen to the galleries of Paris, and the alleyways of Algiers. But her quest also awakens other questions, questions about herself. She, who knows everything about the provenance of a painting, yet knows nothing about her own origins.

As Bea begins to unravel the story behind the painting, a dramatic, parallel story begins to emerge in 1920s Paris, as young Thora Klinckowström from Ekerö, Sweden, marries Nils Dardel and becomes immersed in the bohemian paradise of Montparnasse. Thora is persuaded to sit for a painter, Modigliani, but the resulting portrait holds a secret that only Thora is aware of. A hundred years later, will it finally be revealed as Bea Wilson races against time to save the painting?

Vermilion is a debut novel about art, identity, and belonging, asking the questions: what is authentic and what is fake - both in art and life? With a plot reminiscent of Jojo Moyes’ The Girl You Left Behind it’s a must-read for fans of The Woman in Gold and The Modigliani Scandal.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish PDF

Sample translation 60 pp. Synopsis Author Letter & Interview

ULLA RASK studied Finnish literature, history, and creative writing before forging a career in law and, subsequently, as a communications executive in the sustainable energy sector. The author of a non-fiction title, The Career Dresser’s Guide (Urapukeutujan opas, No Tofu Publishing, 2018) Rask’s debut novel, Blanka, Daughter of the Baltic Sea (WSOY, 2025) quickly became a critical and commercial success on publication. She lives and works in Helsinki.

@ullarask

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 135 pp.

Synopsis

Series outline Books 1-3

RIGHTS SOLD

Estonian (Eesti Raamat)

Dutch (Mozaiek 1-3)

German (Rowholt 1-3)

Norwegian (Aschehoug 1-3)

Polish (Relacja 1-3)

Swedish (Printz 1-3)

OPTIONS

Estonian (Eesti Raamat)

“Rask’s debut novel is a believable and captivating armchair journey to the 17th-century Baltic Sea. [...] A new star in the genre is being born”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

In the Shadows of the Seven Spires

The Cold Sea series (2) (Seitsemän tornin varjoissa)

First published in Finnish by WSOY 2026 / 357 pp.

The second instalment in the bestselling adventure novel series about the daughter of a Hanseatic merchant, hailed as Buddenbrooks with a female gaze.

Four years after her arrival in Lübeck, Blanka Berger has settled into her new life and role as wife of Hanseatic merchant, Karl Johan Krause, and mother to a young son, Matthias. As the plague ravages the population and a new threat looms from close quarters, Blanka life slowly begins to crumble and she is forced to flee the stricken city with her family to seek refuge in the countryside, where social hierarchies are stripped away and Blanka and her family are at the mercy of others. The rediscovery of a love she believed lost comes at a higher price than she could ever have imagined.

In the Shadow of the Seven Spires is the second book in the 20,000+ copy bestselling Cold Sea series, featuring Blanka Berger von Wijk as a young woman impelled into an arranged marriage, taking charge of her own destiny, and yearning for an impossible love. The third novel in the series is due to be published in 2027.

Blanka, Daughter of the Baltic Sea

The Cold Sea series (1) (Blanka, Itämeren tytär)

First published in Finnish by WSOY 2025 / 375 pp.

Reval (Tallinn), 1606, following the sudden death of her sister, Dorothea, on her wedding night, eighteen-year-old Blanka Berger, is expected to step into her sister’s shoes as the second wife of Karl Johann Krause, their upper-class merchant father’s business associate in the North German city of Lübeck. The following spring, Blanka and her maid Margo depart for their new life in Lübeck, but their journey takes an unexpected turn when they are kidnapped for ransom and taken to Gotland to await payment of the ransom. When help doesn’t arrive, Blanka and Margo must pit their wits against their captors find their own way to Lübeck where Blanka, who has entered a marriage of convenience, must grow into her new role and life—but only for a moment as both domestic and external events put her courage and intuition to the test. Blanka, Daughter of the Baltic Sea marks the beginning of a captivating, historical fiction series that became an immediate bestseller. Akin to Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks with a female gaze, the series will appeal to fans of Tracy Chevalier, Ken Follett, Philippa Gregory, and acclaimed Finnish historical fiction writer, Kaari Utrio.

“An absorbing historical adventure”

ME NAISET MAGAZINE

“Fresh and realistic.”

TURUN SANOMAT

KARIN COLLINS (b. 1976) is a Finland-Swedish writer who grew up in Hangö. She studied English and French Literature and Linguistics before settling in the UK, where she lived for almost twenty years and worked in marketing and copywriting. Her debut novel was published in 2019 and has published a book a year since then. Her Hangö trilogy is set in the eponymous town during the Winter- and Continuation Wars. Collins live in Hangö, where she lives and writes full-time.

The Hangö series

(Snart har sommarn blommat ut, Hos dig min längtan är förtöjd, Där jag har min hjärtans kär)

First published in Swedish and Finnish by Schildts & Söderströms / 2022-2025

A closely-observed historical fiction trilogy set against the backdrop of the sandy beaches of the Finnish Riviera during the Winter War.

THE END OF SUMMER (1): May, 1939 and Disa is preparing the Bellevue guesthouse for the first guests at the picturesque seaside resort, ensuring that all the whims of her guests will be catered to.. Down in the harbour, Hjalmar tends to his fishing nets while keeping an eye on his grandson Nisse. Schoolgirl Aino is in love and harbours dreams of leaving her impoverished home. On the 30th of November, the first Russian bombs begin to fall and all the inhabitants of Hangö have to decide whether to leave or face an unknown future if they stay. A moving and gripping account of a community before, during, and after the Winter War.

SAFE HARBOUR (2): 1940, Finland has been forced to lease the Hangö peninsula to the Russians and most Hangö’s inhabitants are struggling to accept their circumstances as they attempt to continue with their lives.

“Karin Collins shows the physical and psychological damage caused by war amidst the hope of return and reconstruction. It would be of interest to anyone who loves family sagas set in the past with a great sense of place.”

KATE

LAMBERT, SWEDISH BOOK REVIEW

“A portrayal of sorrow, courage, uncertainty and disappointment - but also warmth and hope.”

ÖSTERBOTTENS TIDNING

RETURNING HOME (3): 1942, the Russians have withdrawn and Hjalmar, Disa and Aino return to the ruins of their hometown. Amidst the hope of return and reconstruction, all three find themselves faced with difficult decisions to make as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their old lives.

The garnered Collins a Society of Swedish Literature in Finland Award 2025.

The Hangö trilogy opens up the historical experiences of Finns and Swedish-Finns during the Winter War in the scenic seaside resort of Hangö with its sand beaches and elegant, wooden villas. A mustread for fans of Katharina Widholm and Ruth Kvarnström-Jones.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish & Finnish PDFs

Synopses

Author Letter Reviews

RIGHTS SOLD

All rights available

JENNY ROGNEBY (b. 1974) is an Ethiopian born Swedish writer and criminologist. During her years as a criminal investigator for the Stockholm City Police, she has worked with a broad spectrum of crime cases. Her debut Leona series was a commercial success that was translated into 14 languages and optioned for film & TV. Her series featuring mediator Angela Lans was published by Ordfront Förlag.

The Marked Children

The Interrogators series (1)

(De märkta barnen)

First published in Swedish by Bookmark / November 2025 / 450 pp.

What price are you willing to pay to fulfill your dreams?

Acclaimed criminologist and crime writer Jenny Rogneby returns with a pacy, new series focused on a new police unit of interrogators solving serious crime.

On a hot summer’s day, a bomb threat at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm is called in. Police secure the scene around a black bag outside the hospital, but when the bomb technician unzips it, there are no explosives. Instead, the bag contains an infant.

The little girl’s life hangs in the balance, and the doctors discover something on her arm that has them very worried. Who is she? And who has left her outside the hospital? When another child is found, media coverage reaches new heights, and a major investigation is launched. The clues lead the police to a shadowy world where anything can be bought for money, a corrupt industry with links reaching to the upper echelons of power.

”An impressive and breathtaking plot about horrific and unforgivable crimes.”

SOFIE SARENBRANT

The Marked Children is the first book in The Interrogators series featuring police interrogators Annie Altin and Alexander Tilly. The next book in the series is scheduled for publication in autumn 2026.

“Hard to put down.”

BOKTOKIG

”A crime novel that depicts a dark side of Sweden”

SWEDISH RADIO

“[...] this is the best thing she has written so far, deeply touching fiction with a strong anchoring in a disgusting reality”

KAPPRAKT

READING MATERIAL

Swedish PDF

Sample translation 100 pp. (tk)

Synopsis

Author letter

”The Marked Children is a classic detective story where the clues are woven together. [...] The drama and suspense lie in the dialogues, rather than in the events. It is very well done.”

DAST MAGAZINE

“It is a difficult balancing act the author has set out on, but she not only manages to do so, but also with bravura. [...] With a sense of subtle nuances, Rogneby shows the consequences of the crime, both physically and mentally, as well as legally and criminally, while at the same time managing to keep the reader in an iron grip. [...] An extraordinary reading experience. 5/5”

BTJ

MADS PEDER NORDBO (b. 1970) is a Danish writer from Funen who has previously lived in Sweden, Germany and Greenland. He holds degrees in literature, communications and philosophy from the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Stockholm. The author of nine novels, he is also co-author of two thrillers together with Sara Blædel and which are optioned for TV. Nordbo’s acclaimed Greenland series was translated into 20 languages.

READING MATERIAL

Danish edition & PDF

Sample translation 80 pp.

Synopsis Books 1-3

Author letter

“[...] a new fantastic crime series by Mads Peder Nordbo [...] The crime has all the ingredients that belong to a good and exciting crime novel that you just don’t want to put down [...] Nordbo manages to keep the suspense going right up until the last chapter.” *****

KRONVOLDS KULTUR KÅRNER

“It’s all tied together in a well-told story that gives a lot of thoughts and emotions free rein [...] The Praest sisters are an interesting and likeable couple that I look forward to getting to know better.”

RANDI GLENSBO BLOG

Dog

The Praest Sisters series (2) (Kors)

First published in Danish by Gutkind 2026 / 350 pp.

“Scream and you die. Keep quiet and you’ll live.” The Præst sisters continue their investigations in this nail-biting second installment.

A man - bloodstained and batteredstaggers into a church in Odense. A few hours later, he is dead. The following day, a woman steps out in front of a truck. She has a small gold cross around her neck and was carrying a worn leather briefcase embossed with the words ‘Walker – Horsens Police’.

When Line Præst and her sister, Ragnhild, from the new joint police and psychiatric unit begin to investigate the case, their leads take them back to the summer of 1998, to a mink farm in Jutland where a terrifying secret emerges from the darkness.

The closer Line and Ragnhild get to the truth, the closer death comes to them. With each puzzle piece falling into place, it becomes clear that hidden eyes are following their every move – even when they sleep.

Cross is the second volume in the series about the Præst sisters by the acclaimed author of the Greenland series featuring Tupaarnaq and Matthew Cave. It is an intense and nerve-wracking tale of families, shame, and murder—a story of dark secrets that have been buried for so long that anyone who uncovers them risks death.

The Praest Sisters series (1) (Hund)

First published in Danish by Gutkind 2025 / 391 pp.

The gripping opener to a brand-new series by the bestselling author of the Greenland series. A Top 10 bestseller in Denmark and Bog & Idé booksellers’ Book of the Month.

A naked, enfeebled man appears at a Christmas market at the dilapidated Hesbjerg Manor on the island of Funen. His body bears fresh bite marks of what appears to be a large dog, and the man seems mentally absent. JRT, the joint psychological unit between the Region of Southern Denmark and Odense Police, is called in and the work of establishing the man’s identity and the circumstances around his injuries begins.

When a new victim with similar injuries turns up near Skanderborg, the case is turned on its head and the terms “killer” and “victim” begin to merge.

Police Inspector Line Præst and her sister Ragnhild, a psychologist at the regional psychiatric centre, have to work more closely together, much to Line’s annoyance, and a new department at Odense Police is born.

The case spreads its ripples and anxiety runs deep. People begin to fear big dogs, and for Line and Ragnhild, the case takes a tragic and all too personal turn. Death is suddenly as close as the warm breath of a wild dog. What is it like to see your own death?

The Greenland series

The Girl Without Skin; Cold Fear; The Woman With the Death Mask

First published in Danish by Politikens / 2017, 2018, 2019

The bestselling Greenland series by Mads Peder Nordbo consists of The Girl Without Skin, Cold Fear and The Woman With the Death Mask. The trilogy plays out in the remote and arctic environment of Greenland, where Nordbo lived and worked between 2014-2019, employed at the town hall in Nuuk, where he worked closely with the mayor of the capital municipality.

Matthew Cave, the male protagonist of the series is a young journalist who has sought solitude in the Arctic after losing his wife and unborn daughter in a road accident. His mother is Danish, while his father was an American soldier at Thule Air Base. His father disappeared without a trace when Matthew was four years old; wanted for murder. The female protagonist, Tupaarnaq Siegstad, is a young Greenlander who has been in prison for the murder of her father and is haunted by a tough childhood. Both Matthew and Tupaarnaq are both hampered by their psychological scars, but through the three books they become increasingly united in the cases they become entangled in.

The series garnered Nordbo critical acclaim from readers and critics alike for his authentic and respectful rendering of Greenlandic society and its conditions, and the beautiful but unforgiving Arctic environment - a counterpoint to the brutal elements of the crimes in the storylines.

The Greenland series has been translated into 20 languages, including English, and has been optioned for a TV series.

Please get in touch with us for up-to-date rights information for your territory.

READING MATERIAL

Danish PDF 1-3

English translations 1-2

Synopses Books 1-3

Reviews

“The real pleasure in this slice of Scandi noir is the insight it gives into the cocktail of claustrophobia and remoteness that is life in Greenland. Here, even place names shimmer with poetry…”

OBSERVER, ON COLD FEAR

“Mads Peder Nordbo writes really well. It’s exciting, well-researched and different, and with really good characters.”

SARA BLÆDEL, BESTSELLING DANISH AUTHOR

“A grippingly atmospheric yarn… As danger mounts, the landscape, weather and people of the former Danish colony are piercingly observed. Chilling.”

SUNDAY TIMES

“While there are similarities to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, Nordbo’s writing is far more poetic. Though dazzled by the icecap’s beauty, he’s not blinded to the darkness of man.’”

SA WEEKEND

“The Girl Without Skin is large parts a classical crime combined with a thriller’s intensity—but just as much social criticism.”

VG,

NORWAY

“Impressive descriptions of Greenlandic nature and bloodthirsty murders - a gripping and thrilling read.”

BUCHZENE, GERMANY

ARNE DAHL (b. 1963) is a writer, editor, and critic who has written nearly thirty books in a number of different series, in primarily the crime fiction genre. He has been awarded several prestigious awards such as the Deutscher Krimi Preis and the Ripper Award for his collected work. His books have been translated into 32 languages.

JONAS MOSTRÖM (b. 1973) is a writer and general practitioner. He is the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling series that follows psychiatrist and criminal profiler Nathalie Svensson and inspector Johan Axberg. The books have been translated into 11 languages. In 2017, Jonas won the Big Audio Book Prize for the novel Midnight Girls (Midnattsflickor, Lind & Co, 2016).

The Traitor

True Fiction series (2)

(Svikaren)

First published in Swedish by Bookmark / 2026 / 400 pp.

A breathless pursuit of the secret organisation controlling world-renowned crime novelist Tom Borg.

His latest crime novel has become a massive, international bestseller. But behind the scenes, Tom Borg is living a feverish nightmare. Over the past year, he has fallen under the control of a secret radical organisation that is forcing him to spread their authoritarian ideology via his writing. His family and friends have all turned their backs on him, repelled by the views he now appears to represent.

Although the organisation has made it brutally clear they will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get their way, Tom decides to try and break free. But the price is devastatingly high. Will he be able to escape their carefully planned geopolitical blackmail scheme that reaches its climax when his daughter’s life is put in mortal danger?

At the same time, newly promoted detective superintendent Olivia Woolf remains suspicious of Tom, to whom she is unwillingly related.

But Oliva will soon have to put her focus elsewhere when a young man is found hanging from a park bridge in the heart of Stockholm. He has been beaten to death, and a puzzling, macabre object is found in his mouth. Olivia and her colleagues realise that a line has been crossed into the deepest darkness of humanity.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Sample translation (tk) Synopsis

“Dahl and Moström’s The Creator is skillfully told, thrilling, driven, not overly violent or stereotypical […].  It is a consistently well-written suspense novel that sets the course for the upcoming series.”

BTJ, ON ‘THE CREATOR’

The Traitor, the second installment in the True Fiction series, is a wild, atmospheric thriller packed with relentless suspense, dark humour, and nail-biting tension.

”Obviously, it’s extremtly thrilling”

BAROMETERN, ON ‘THE CREATOR’

“[…] they have really hit the nail on the head in an insanely entertaining meta-thriller that nevertheless rests on a solid, serious foundation. And on top of that, they present a cast of characters that you just have to fall in love with.”

VLT, ON ‘THE CREATOR’

The Creator

True Fiction series (1)

(Skaparen)

First published in Swedish by Bookmark / 2024 / 432 pp.

The

opening instalment to new writing duo Arne Dahl and Jonas Moström’s True Fiction series. Shortlisted for the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Prize 2024 and a bestseller in Denmark.

Celebrated crime novelist Tom Borg is grappling with a severe case of writer’s block, desperate to reignite his creative spark. In a bid for inspiration, he ventures into an underground club in central Stockholm, where he witnesses a murder eerily reminiscent of the plot he’s been struggling to pen.

Tom soon finds himself embroiled in a deadly game where the difference between fiction and reality is distorted. Where is the line between the two drawn? And is that something he really wants to find out?

Tom’s antagonist is the MMA-fighting Inspector Olivia Woolf. She carries her own twin inside her, has one blue eye and one green eye, and takes out her aggression on men who hurt women.

It is not long until Tom realizes that not only are the police after him, there is someone else closing in as well. A radical group with its own agenda seems to be behind the events that drove Tom on the run. Who really controls the narrative of the book Tom is working on, and who is to blame when real people get hurt?

The Creator is the first part of the new True Fiction series, written by two award-winning crime writers at the top of their game. It is a thriller in the spirit of the Coen brothers: an irrestistble and unexpected page-turner, filled with unforgettable characters and action.

“The Creator is a wild game of illusion at high speed.”

DAGENS NYHETER

“A skillfully packed detective story that highlights contemporary issues as threats to both climate and democracy. A top-notch page-turner with a cliffhanger that hints that now we have only scratched the surface - more has to come.”

ANETTE STOLT / BOOKSTAGRAM

“Arne Dahl is possibly the most thoughtful and playful contemporary Nordic crime writer. He also happens to be one of the most thrilling.”

IAN RANKIN

SHORTLISTED CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Full ENG translation

Synopsis Book 1 & 2

RIGHTS SOLD

Danish (Lindhardt & Ringhof) 1-3

Finnish (Into) 1-3

German (Bastei Luebbe) 1-3

Greek (Metaixmio)

Polish (Labreto)

Portuguese (Dom Quixote)

OLLI JALONEN (b. 1954) is one of the most respected Finnish writers of his generation. He has published 24 works of fiction, short fiction and non-fiction, and written numerous plays, dramatisations and film scripts throughout his career. His work has garnered him numerous literary awards: he is one of only three writers ever to have twice won the prestigious Finlandia Prize. His works have been translated into nine languages.

A Pure, Vibrant Life

(Puhdas viiruinen elämä)

First published in Finnish by Otava / March 2026 / 320 pp.

A powerful literary novel by a two-time Finlandia Prize winner exploring how the fire of an idea can both destroy and heal.

In a small Finnish town, ordinary lives are shaped by love, loyalty, belief - and quiet rebellion: Kerttu takes responsibility for her sister when there is no one else; Kusti secures a family grave as a final act of love; Kalle, joins the scouts despite prohibitions from both his mother and the emperor.

In 1918, the Civil War fractures the town and leaves its inhabitants with scars and memories they’d rather erase. Everyone searches for ways to endure in the decades to follow: through alcohol or sobriety, money or love, silence or devotion. Forgetting becomes a form of survival, yet the past insists on being remembered.

At the novel’s heart burns Kerttu’s and Kalle’s love: quiet and luminous, resisting the pull of ideology, and stubbornly holding against the dark currents of history.

“Jalonen’s text has a unique rhythm to it [...] often writing truly beautiful sentences.”

KULTTUURITOIMITUS

A Pure, Vibrant Life offers a haunting portrait of community in the aftermath of war. The novel deals with ideology and belief, moral compromise, as well as memory and forgetting. The devastating consequences of good intentions and the power of love, are key elements in Jalonen’s latest novel.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish PDF

Sample translation (tk)

Synopsis

“Finnish literature changes to world literature in the hands of Olli Jalonen.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

“Olli Jalonen is a maestro of beautifully crafted sentences.”

SALON SEUDUN SANOMAT

“Jalonen is a master at building open places into a text. His stories breathe, and each page contains an expectation, of good or evil.”

KOUVOLAN SANOMAT

1974) is one of the most exciting literary authors in Finland today. Her unique, feminine voice, the distinct spark in her writing, and the exceptional sensitivity to rhythm in her language make her truly stand out.

Taivassalo, who has been awarded several prizes, writes originally in Swedish. In her novels, Taivassalo explores the themes of continuous movement, of leaving, of restlessness and displacement, but also of the joy of discovering. She writes about desire and sex exceptionally well and excels in describing the erotic charge between her characters.

Taivassalo has published several novels, worked in theatre, written plays and studied at the Theatre Academy, as well as at the University of Helsinki. Among other prizes, she has been awarded The Runeberg prize for her first novel, Andrej Krapi’s Five Knives (2007), and Finlandspris (from a Swedish culture fund) in 2017 for her “unique authorship”, her “novels with unexpected twists” and for “detailed, lyric and impressionistic prose”.

InSanatorium

(InSanatorium)

First published in Swedish by Förlaget M / 2026 / 180 pp.

A gothic fairytale for those who have lost their way and themselves. Welcome to InSanatorium.

InSanatorium is a hotel that exists between dream and reality. This is where the young woman Ali arrives, having moved through life with only one thought: how she is going to die. Must one go on living anyway?

Something painful has happened to Ali. She needs a place, and time, in which to rest. The residents, the rooms, and the routines of the sanatorium all form a reality of their own. When endurance runs thin, one can watch the crows outside, feed the cats, chop spring onions, make a friend. Word by word, a utopia is built. A place so safe that the pain becomes bearable.

InSanatorium is a clear-eyed and deeply affecting miniature novel about what happens when the soul falls ill and must find a way out that is not the end, because somewhere deep within, the desire to live is still pulsing beneath somewhere. The novel is written with the same tenderness toward its language as the caregivers at InSanatorium show toward Ali.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Sample translation (tk)

Author interview

“She has written a wonderful, distinctive little novel about true goodness. I want to share it with everyone I know; I want doctors to prescribe it to wounded souls, and for someone to make a beautiful film of it to be shown all over the world. At the same time, I want to hide it closest to my heart so that it will belong only to me.”

DAGENS NYHETER

“A hopeful story about finding oneself again. There is something timeless, lingering, and fairy-tale-like about it.”

SVENSKA YLE

“Taivassalo is a master at depicting everything that happens skin against skin.”

MUSTONEN is the pen name of Finnish writer, researcher, and screenwriter Kirsti Manninen, holding a PhD in Finnish literature. Mustonen is the best-selling author of six historical series and more than a dozen standalones, which have sold an aggregated 2,2 million copies to date. Her books have been made into more than 350 TV episodes so far, and Mustonen is the Finnish no. 1 author on BookBeat.

The Shepherdess

The Bystander Chronicles

(Paimentyttö)

First published in Finnish by Otava / 2013 / 391 pp.

“The Bystander series is still going strong. The narrator offers fascinating insights into the 1960s by combining fact and fiction.”

KALEVA NEWSPAPER

“The idea behind the series is brilliant. It offers an insight into the lives of key figures in Finnish cultural circles from the perspective of the average person. A delightful mix of fact and fiction!”

KIRSIN KIRJANURKKA BLOG

+2M COPIES SOLD IN THE SERIES

The opening to Enni Mustonen’s bestselling historical family saga, The Bystander Chronicles, a ten-volume series spanning three generations and portraying cultural life at the turn of the 20th century through the eyes of servants and ordinary people.

Finnish Sipoo in the 1890’s: After her mother dies, the thirteen-year-old shepherdess Ida Eriksson is orphaned and ends up working as a barn maid at Östersundom Manor, where the herdsman’s maid takes her under her wing and ensures she undergoes basic education and reads Swedish. Eventually, Ida unexpectedly moves on to Björkudden, the Topelius’ home, as the family’s maid. Ida’s starting point is far from the lifestyle of a vibrant, cultural family, but she gradually gets to know the aging writer Zahris Topelius, and learns to cross language and cultural boundaries.

Several years pass in the Topelius household, where Ida is responsible for cooking and taking care of Topelius’ infant grandchildren. Despite the long, hard working hours and a sparse salary, she faithfully looks after the entire household and gradually Professor Topelius becomes very dear to her. A whole new world opens up to Ida when the entire Finnish cultural elite comes to celebrate Topelius’ birthdays, or when she is taken on a trip to Stockholm. She sees and hears a lot, meets interesting people, however, Ida remains the outsider servant. But when she meets Elias, the manor’s coachman, a tentative relationship between the two develops.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish editions & PDFs

Sample translation

Synopses

Author Letter

“Enni Mustonen has an impressive ability to bring past tragedies and everyday mishaps to life in her stories. Those who have read the entire series have grown fond of Ida’s family, and at times the book feels almost like a personal family chronicle.”

MAASEUDUN TULEVAISUUS NEWSPAPER

“[...] the hugely popular series comes to an end: Stories of the Outsider remains imaginative until the very end.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

The Bystander Chronicles is a sweeping historical saga told by three generations of women who witness history from the margins, following Finland’s journey from Russian rule to independence and into the modern era. From Jean Sibelius’ kitchen table to Coco Chanel’s Paris atelier, to Hollywood’s Universal Studios and back to Marimekko’s first factory in Finland.

Ida Eriksson, born into poverty in rural Finland in the late 19th century is intelligent, observant, and fiercely self-reliant. Ida rises from servant girl to trusted insider in the households of Finland’s cultural elite. From kitchens and back corridors, she watches the Finnish Golden Age unfold—artists, writers, and composers shaping a national identity while political tensions simmer under Russian rule.

Ida is never at the center of power, yet she sees everything. She overhears debates on autonomy and resistance. She observes the fragility of status and privilege. And while the nation struggles toward independence, she fights her own battles—against class barriers, limited opportunities for women, heartbreak, and the cost of survival in turbulent times.

As Finland changes, the narration passes to Ida’s daughter, Kirsti, whose life reflects a new generation growing up in an independent but deeply divided country. Through Kirsti, readers experience the aftermath of civil conflict, the evolving role of women, and the cultural shifts of the early 20th century. Her perspective is more modern, yet still shaped by the resilience she inherited from her mother.

Later, the story continues through Ida’s granddaughter, Viena, whose voice carries the family—and the nation—into an even more contemporary era. With Viena, the series expands its scope, exploring how memory, identity, and history are passed down, reshaped, and reinterpreted across generations.

SOFIE SARENBRANT (b. 1978) made her literary debut in 2010 and has since then become one of the biggest crime authors in the Nordics. She is best known for her modern and creative series following police detective Emma Sköld and her team in Stockholm. The series has sold 6,5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 17 languages to date.

The Emma Sköld series was Sweden’s bestselling domestic series of 2023. The Parasite was nominated Crime Novel of the Year award the same year. Sofie Sarenbrant has won Crime Writer of the Year in 2019, 2020 and 2022 for the series and also a hat-trick of the Nextory E-Book Award. She is currently nominated for Crime Writer of the Year 2025.

The Follower

Emma Sköld series (12) (Följeslagaren)

First published in Swedish by Bookmark / 2025 / 400 pp.

Nominated for Crime Novel of the Year 2025.

7M COPIES SOLD IN THE SERIES

“Enjoy Sofie Sarenbrant’s pace, the smart dialogue and the chills down your spine.”

FEMINA DENMARK

“As with all of Sofie Sarenbrant’s books, it is exciting, well written and nicely tied together at the end.”

SUNDSVALLS TIDNING

The bestselling Emma Sköld series continues with a nail-biting story that plunges readers into a case for Emma where the line between safety and danger becomes blurred.

A woman goes missing without a trace in the leafy suburb of Bromma. There are no leads or a body, but the question remains: why did her husband wait three days before reporting her missing? And then a macabre clue is found in a neighbouring garden.

Detective Inspector Emma Sköld gives the case her all. On her own initiative, Emma’s sister Josefin, on summer leave from the police academy, offers to help Emma with the investigation. Little does Josefin know what she has got herself into.

The Follower is the twelfth standalone book in Sweden’s most-sold series of 2023. Sofie Sarenbrant combines societal debate and sensitive topics together with her signature nailbiting intrigue.

This autumn, Sofie Sarenbrant will will be launching a brand-new series featuring a new protagonist and millieu in a lead title for Forum. The next installment in the Emma Sköld series will be published in 2027.

“Are you being followed, or just paranoid? And do you dare to look in the mirror and face the truth?”

“A real page-turner.”

BOKNJUTAREN

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Sample translation

Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD (SERIES)

Danish (People’s)

Dutch (Luitingh-Sijthoff)

Estonian (Pegasus)

Finnish (WSOY)

German (Aufbau)

Icelandic (MTH)

Lithuanian (Balto)

Norwegian (Cappelen Damm)

“When it comes to telling stories about the superficial present, there are few who can beat Sofie Sarenbrant.”

LOTTA OLSSON, DAGENS NYHETER

The Parasite (Parasiten)

Bookmark / 2024 / 400 pp.

It is a hot summer day when the burnt remains of a body are found by Drottningholm Palace, the private residence of the royal family, just outside of Stockholm. Next to the victim, the police find a death list with five names. The last one reads Emma Sköld.

An investigation is immediately started. At the same time, a twenty-year-old case unrolls where a mother went to the emergency room with her infant but ended up in detention. What does the past have to do with the victim found by Drottningholm? Now it is up to Emma and her colleagues to stop the killer before more names are crossed of the list. Including the final one, Emma herself.

The Parasite is the eleventh book in the bestselling series following detective Emma Sköld and her team in Stockholm. In her characteristic way, Sarenbrant portrays topical issues while at the same time creating suspense that keeps readers on their toes all the way to the end. The Parasite is about a life shattered overnight, revenge, hurtful sibling relationships and a family involved in a tragedy with catastrophic consequences.

The Soulmate (Själsfränden)

Bookmark / 2022 / 442 pp.

Stockholm is exploding in the warm colours of autumn. It is a striking view, but police detective Emma Sköld’s eyes fall on something else. A woman is balancing on the wrong side of the railing of a major bridge, holding a baby in her arms.

Emma must prevent the woman and infant from falling twenty-six meters down into the sea and a certain death. What has led her to this point? Emma Sköld and her colleagues face an intricate investigation in their most urgent case yet.

The Soulmate is the tenth book the popular crime series about police detective Emma Sköld. Sofie Sarenbrant uniquely weaves together current and sensitive contemporary issues into the plot, and explores topics such as human dignity, prejudice and gaslighting. With short chapters, a straightforward language and strong cliffhangers, Sarenbrant’s storytelling has a unique drive and urgency. The result is an equally important and thrilling crime story, impossible to put down.

The Guardian Angel (Skyddsängeln)

Bookmark / 2021 / 400 pp.

The cherry trees are in full bloom, but police detective Emma Sköld is having trouble enjoying the approaching Easter holiday. Seven months have passed since her close colleague, Krille, disappeared without a trace. She is determined to find him, dead or alive.

While police finally locate the debt collector who was the last one to see Krille alive, Emma is presented with a strange murder. An elderly man has been found dead in an abandoned mental institution. When his identity is revealed, Emma becomes obsessed with solving the case.

The Guardian Angel is the ninth book in the immensely popular detective series about Emma Sköld. As always, the story has a strong connection to current social issues. The Guardian Angel explores topics such as loneliness, addiction, and mental illness. It was the most listened to book of the year on Storytel in 2021.

“Sofie Sarenbrant’s crime novel The Soulmate begins with a real sick-to-thestomach scene and the feverish pace is kept up throughout the novel.”

AFTONBLADET SÖNDAG

SOFIE SARENBRANT (b. 1978) is one of Sweden’s most beloved and successful authors. Her books have been translated into 17 languages and sold 6,5 million copies to date. She was awarded the prestigious Swedish Crime Writer of the Year award in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and the Emma Sköld series was Sweden’s bestselling series of 2023.

CARINA BERGFELDT (b. 1980) is an award-winning author, journalist, and one of the most popular TV hosts in Sweden. Today she is most known for her celebrated talk show, Carina Bergfeldt. She has also published both fiction and non-fiction books, with translation rights sold to 15 countries.

2024 SWEDISH CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR -NOMINEE

Good Friday

(Långfredagen)

Bookmark / 2024 / 400 pp.

It’s Good Friday and the season premiere of the popular talk show Frida-y. Spotlights fill the stage, the audience sits quietly in anticipation for what the evening has to offer. Backstage, a controversial guest is waiting, invited personally by the host Frida von Engen. She wants to make sure to get high ratings for her comeback on screen and to once and for all consolidate her role as the most intriguing host with the most exciting show.  But in the middle of the live broadcast, a masked person emerges from the shadows. A bomber vest is hidden under the hoodie. There is no doubt that the threat is real: ”The doors are locked, no one gets out of here. If you interrupt the broadcast, everyone dies.”

“There is certainly no shortage of spectacular ingredients in this exciting page-turner [...]. Fast-paced with colourful characters and dark secrets that are revealed in the open. A thriller that is likely to end up high on the bestseller lists.”

INGALILL MOSANDER, AFTONBLADET

“An exciting thriller.”

BTJ

“A real pageturner.”

TV4 MORNING NEWS

Good Friday is the standalone sequel to The Birthday, which was released in September 2023 and topped the sales charts. With a focus on fast-paced suspense and complex relationships, Sofie Sarenbrant and Carina Bergfeldt have created another world-class thriller.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Sample translation

Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

Danish (People’s)

Finnish (WSOY)

Norwegian (Cappelen Damm)

German (Saga Egmont)

SERIES SOLD

400,000 COPIES

The Birthday

(Födelsedagen)

Bokförlaget Forum / 2023 / 405 pp.

It’s a beautiful morning when Samuel’s mother, his father and his new stepmother gather to celebrate his seventh birthday. Together they arrange the cake, light the candles and head to Samuel’s room singing. But as the door opens, silence falls. Samuel’s bed is empty, the window wide open.

Police are quickly called and a heavily publicized search operation begins. But as the hours go by, questions and suspicions arise – the atmosphere between ex-wife, father and stepmother thickens. When the corpse of a family member is discovered, the situation escalates. All three would have an interest to get Samuel out of the way, but their stories just don’t add up. What really happened the night before?

Awarded Forum’s Platinum Book with over 200,000 copies sold within two years of publication.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Full ENG translation

Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

Danish (People’s)

Estonian (Pegasus)

Finnish (WSOY)

Norwegian (Cappelen Damm)

German (Saga Egmont)

Film & TV (Nordisk Film, option)

COSY

ARNDÍS ÞÓRARINSDÓTTIR (b. 1982) has an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and a postgraduate degree in Creative Writing from the University of Iceland, and another one in Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

HULDA SIGRÚN BJARNADÓTTIR (b. 1971) studied library science and psychology at the University of Iceland and University of Copenhagen. She has been writing children’s and YA fiction since 2007.

Murder After High Mass

(Morð og messufall)

First published in Icelandic by Forlagið / 2025 / 304 pp.

How many commandments can you actually break in the same church?

“Briskly plotted and full of humour [...] a very entertaining story.”

REV. HREINN S. HÁKONARSON, KIRKUJUBLADID

“A criminally funny novel, featuring unforgettable characters. Unputdownable.”

JÓNÍNA LEÓSDÓTTIR, AUTHOR

Sif has simple goals in life. She just wants to keep her wayward parents out of trouble and get a priest’s job so she can guarantee her son a secure future. However, her first job interview after graduating from theology ends in disaster when she and her interviewer, Reverend Reynir discover a dead body on the altar steps.

In the chaos that follows, Sif is hired as a temporary churchwarden and is determined to prove herself so that she can be ordained as a priest. But the organist has left, the accounting is in disarray, and to top it all off, a young man from youth work seems to have disappeared without a trace. What on earth was the deceased, Kormákur Austfjörð, Reynir’s special assistant, doing at the neighbourhood retirement home?

Murder After High Mass is a light-hearted, cosy-crime novel, full of memorable characters and unparalleled events. Arndís and Hulda are established children’s book authors - both jointly as well as individually - and have received numerous awards for their work both domestically and internationally. This is their first work of adult fiction.

READING MATERIAL

Icelandic edition & PDF

English sample translation 38 pp. Synopsis

“Can’t help but laugh out loud [...] There are lovely characters, hilarious puns and wonderful humour here, but also tension and an interesting and complex plot where there are many surprises at the end.”

LIFÐU NÚNA

“The narrative starts out light-hearted but after midpoint things get more serious and we end up with a gritty thriller.”

MORGUNBLAÐIÐ

KRISTIN EMILSSON (b. 1973) is one of Sweden’s most popular feelgood writers. Her books have sold over 300,000 copies and have been translated into Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and German to date. She debuted in 2014 with Äta kakan och ha den kvar (Lind & Co, 2014) and has since published seven more novels in the same genre. A third book in the Julia series, Spring According to Julia, was published in 2025.

PUBLISHERS OF THE ’JULIA GRAHN’ SERIES

Danish (Cicero)

Finnish (Karisto)

German (Fischer)

Norwegian (Cappelen Damm)

Spring Feelings on Gotland

(Vårkänslor på Gotländska)

Printz Publishing / 2025 / 325 pp.

Love - both old and new - is in the air as Julia and Petter look forward to their Easter getaway to Gotland.

The Tone-Deaf Musical Society Presents

(Tondövas riksförbund presenterar)

First published in Swedish by Printz Publishing / 2024 / 356 pp.

A feelgood novel about forgotten dreams, new friendships and the unique magic of creating something together.

When Magda Englund’s son leaves home she feels lonely again for the first time in a very long time. The nest is empty, her job as a secondary school teacher ticks along, and all her friends seem to be busy with their own lives.

To ward off the loneliness, Magda decides to realise one of her long-forgotten dreams: to stage a musical. Together with Joakim, the school’s secretive music teacher, Magda forms The ToneDeaf Musical Society, a motley crew of troubled souls who, at first glance, seem to have little in common with each other. But during rehearsals they find common ground and unlikely friendships begin to form.

As their opening night approaches, a new member joins the group and everything is suddenly turned upside-down, opening up old wounds. Can Magda face up to her past or will she be forced to let down her new friends?

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Sample translation 50 pp.

“Feelgood at its best”

KULTURLADYN

Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

Norwegian (Cappelen Damm)

“A carefully composed story that contains both humour and seriousness, and a large dose of warmth. The characters feel real, and nothing is as obvious or predictable as one might think. A really lovely feelgood!”

HYLLAN BLOG

July According to Julia (Juli enligt Julia)

Printz Publishing / 2023 / 350 pp.

New couple Julia and Petter return to the place where they met but in the summer heat, mishaps arise and relationships are put to the test.

Christmas According to Julia (Julen enligt Julia)

Printz Publishing / 2021 / 291 pp.

An entertaining rom-com full of hilarity and finding love when you least expect it set in snowy Visby, Gotland.

EMMI-LIIA SJÖHOLM, is a Helsinkibased author and film screenwriter. Her previous novels, Like Me (Paperilla toinen, Kosmos, 2020) and Hippos (Virtahevot, Kosmos, 2022), have been critical successes.

“In many ways, the rhythm of The Cicadas’ narrative is irresistible. It is frenetic and bizarre, at times pounding and suddenly halting, its temporal shifts are surprising and effective, its language moves with a shimmering motion like a suffocating heat that has settled over the island. Where Emmi-Liia’s previous two works, Like Me and Hippos, were fairly straightforward, this is a structure that unfolds more slowly and in multiple dimensions.”

AUTHOR HELMI KEKKONEN

The Cicadas

(Kaskaat)

First published in Finnish by Kosmos / 2025 / 248 pp.

A touching and suspenseful novel about the friendship between two girls, and a heated depiction of a holiday that changes everything.

Lilli and Taika are best friends, or so Lilli thinks. The girls embark on a holiday together to a Greek island, and while the sun and freedom are glowing on their skin, a sense of threat looms in the air. Twenty years later, Lilli still doesn’t know what happened. Is she guilty, and if so, of what? Could a return to the holiday island solve something? Could Vasia help fill in the gaps in the story?

At the heart of the moving story is the relationship between the girls and the dark side of friendship, the thirst for intimacy and the power of a glance. The novel reveals how girls struggling on the threshold of adulthood are shaken by tenderness, vulnerability and cruelty, and the dark shadows that some fleeting decisions can cast over a life.

Emmi-Liia Sjöholm’s The Cicadas is a cinematic novel about friendship, desire and guilt. It explores how the friendships of youth and the mistakes made can have an impact throughout life. Sjöholm depicts the balance between insecurity and desire with a human touch.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 30 pp. Synopsis

Hippos (Virtahevot)

Kosmos / 2022 / 255 pp.

In the atmospheric stillness of a summer evening, Eevis and Touko, two Helsinkibased 30-somethings, encounter and reveal the mundane as well as their deepest thoughts to one another. An intense discussion of what it means to be human awakens a reader’s senses into the present moment.

Like Me

(Paperilla toinen)

Kosmos / 2020 / 188 pp.

In her ravishing autofictional debut, author Emmi-Liia Sjöholm writes about her life, sex, the need to please others, love, lust and desire. The story resonates on many levels, and the book is a brutally honest description of real life where one’s past is always present in searching for a woman’s place in the world.

Why the Sun

(Auringon syy)

First published in Finnish by Like/Otava / 2025 / 203 pp.

A gripping and unruly coming-of-age novel, from Rwanda to the suburbs of Helsinki.

“An immigrant boy’s journey turns into a flowing debut novel.”

SAVON SANOMAT

“A promising debut.”

TURUN SANOMAT NEWSPAPER

“An important book in terms of its subject matter alone –pioneering work, in fact.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

Moses’ uncle David knows how to make money out of human misery. He rescues Moses from the Rwandan civil war and redeems his ticket to Finland. Overnight, Moses becomes David’s son, Elias. In their new homeland, they pretend to be a family, and no one suspects a thing.

Thanks to Finnish rap, Elias learns the language, and a field trip to a pig farm seals a fragile sense of togetherness. But there is another reality in the background, that of a mother and sister left behind in Rwanda. How can one reconcile two different worlds and find harmony between the new and old selves? Who should he become, and why?

Why the Sun tells a story of the fragility of identity and the incredible journey between two realities. A moving and gritty debut about finding one’s true identity in a layered and immediate narrative leavened with humour and heart. Ideal for readers of Gael Faye’s Small Country and Pajtim Statovci’s A Cow Gives Birth at Night.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 30 pp. Synopsis

“Fascinating - worth checking out.”

KIRJAVINKIT

“Sensitive topics are discussed in beautiful language and with humor, which make the book feel lighter and, despite its content, not as heavy as one might imagine. The book contains amusing observations about Finland and living as a Black person, and I often laughed out loud while reading Elias’s thoughts.”

POC BOOKCLUB, FINLAND

The Golden Deer

(Kultainen peura)

First published in Finnish by Otava / 2024 / 416 pp.

Braiding superstition, language, and illicit love with a sprinkling of mystical fantasy, Miina Supinen delivers an absorbing and spirited narrative in her fifth novel.

Her adult fiction breakthrough novel, Jelly Control (Liha tottelee kuria, WSOY, 2007) earned her critical acclaim as an ’unwilling humourist’. Her works have previously been translated into Czech, Danish, German.

1880s Karelia: defying societal obligations to marry, Mathilda ‘Tilda’ Sommer instead leaves the comfort of her childhood home in Vyborg for a teacher’s seminary in a small town on the northern shores of the great Lake Ladoga. There, Tilda quickly befriends another trainee teacher, Jelena Päästäinen, a mysterious young Karelian woman who is a ward of her uncle, Kiril, a shadowy businessman alleged to associate with dark forces. As an illicit love between the two women begins to bud, they investigate the suspicious death of a local maid and are drawn into a bigger adventure that sets them on a course towards danger.

Abundant with mysticism, joyful humour, and spellbinding history, The Golden Deer reinvents the historical novel, with coiled motifs reminiscent of The Essex Serpent, the adventure of Madeleine’s Miller’s Kirke, and life and love under patriarchal limitations as in Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 72 pp.

“Pages that ooze with joy.”

KARJALAINEN NEWSPAPER

“The Golden Deer shows that Miina Supinen deserves the magic cloak of a revered storyteller. She is clearly of Karelian storyteller stock.”

SAVON SANOMAT NEWSPAPER

“Rich and rewarding…”

KIRJAVINKIT BLOG

“Skillful and vivid.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT NEWSPAPER

Synopsis

Author Letter

“I’m quite sure that in the old days, women, too, used to have fun together. In Finnish novels, their lives are often portrayed as horrible,” Supinen says. [...] I jokingly invented a sort of genre of my own, ‘Karelian gothic’, she says, laughing. If a gothic novel can have lovely maidens and their very strange families and ghosts, why not a Karelian one, she muses.”

AUTHOR INTERVIEW, HELSINGIN SANOMAT

”A refreshing historical novel.”

MAASEUDEN TULEVAISUUS NEWSPAPER

(b. 1983) was born in St. Petersburg into a family of artists. At the age of eight, she moved to Turku, Finland, with her parents. Her long-standing love of reading and writing and the magic of languages influenced Soudakova to write fiction and her day-job teaching French, Russian and Finnish as a second language.

Wings of Sorrow

(Haikara levittää siipensä)

First published in Finnish by Atena / 2024 / 335 pp.

A moving novel about two siblings torn apart by a dictatorship.

“This is one of those novels which deals with terrible, difficult themes but despite - or perhaps, even because of this - you can but love it. The kind of book that is the reason for reading at all.”

KIRSIN KIRJANURKKA BLOG

“Every ambitious novel which seeks to increase our understanding of our neighbours to the east is essential at this time. As is this one.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

1995. A town in Belarus. Andréi is ten when his sister Sveta is born into the torn family. The father’s prison sentence under the authoritarian regime drives Andréi’s mother and grandmother to drink and Andréi has to care for Sveta and himself, loving protecting and comforting his little sister.

When a Belarusian language teacher takes Andréi under her wing, to guide him towards a better future, he decides to leave his home country. After their grandmother passes away, Andréi makes sure that Sveta can live with their uncle, an opponent of the regime. There, Sveta does not receive love, but she learns to love Belarus, to speak the language and to fight for the freedom of their country. She graduates as a journalist and instead of writing propaganda, she creates an electronic news platform to provide people with the truth.

With the presidential elections in 2020, the turbulence in the country increases and protests against the regime end in violence and imprisonment of civilians. Sveta’s work becomes increasingly dangerous and she eventually has to flee and leave everything behind, just like her brother fifteen years before. As Sveta crosses the border, a flock of storks flies above her in the sky. She makes her way to Finland, where she will at last reunite with her beloved brother Andréi.

In Wings of Sorrow, Anna Soudakova renders a suspenseful family saga set against the backdrop of Belarus’ recent history. Skilfully intertwining the different character’s portraits spanning four generations, she recounts in equally beautiful and powerful language their suppression and eternal struggle, as well as the profound humanity of individuals and the loving relationship between the siblings and their shared aspiration for freedom.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition and PDF

Sample translation 45 pp.

Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

Hungarian (Europa Kiado)

“Interestingly, Soudakova uses the Belarusian language in her book as a kind of powerful tool, thereby contributing to the renaissance of the language. Hopefully, the book will also increase [Finnish] readers’ understanding of the situation in Belarus.”

KULTTUURITOIMITUS

PETRA RAUTIAINEN (b. 1988) comes from a small town in eastern Finland. She has a Master’s degree in History and Cultural Studies and is currently working on her doctoral thesis on representations of the Sámi people in the Finnish media. She has also worked as a journalist and studied creative writing. Rautiainen’s debut, Land of Snow and Ashes, was awarded the Savonia Prize in 2020 and shortlisted for the Petrona Award in 2023.

OPTION PUBLISHERS

Dutch (Meridiaan)

Italian (Marsilio)

Danish (Modtryk)

French (Seuil)

Norwegian (Gyldendal Norsk)

Swedish (Norstedts)

PUBLISHED IN 11 LANGUAGES

Tree Killers

(Puuntappajat)

First published in Finnish by Otava / October 2025 / 350 pp.

A gripping historical novel about women marked by a war that divided a nation, by the author of the acclaimed Land of Snow and Ashes.

A young woman is brought to the hospital as an orderly straight from a Red prisoner camp. She proves to be the best medic in the place and stays alongside the talented surgeon Ulpu to help those who have given birth and those wounded in the war.

When Ulpu, a new life advocate, begins to teach a Red prisoner who stinks of death, both their lives take on a new meaning. But soon Ulpu begins to question herself about who she really is, where she has come from. And what is Ulpu’s motive for helping women in trouble?

Sixteen years later, these questions are answered by a special detective. What is the truth in a case where the heart also matters?

“The narrative is at once vivid, horrific, and beautiful. It stays focused throughout, neither randomly nor accidentally. From the beginning, the focus is on the mother, the child, birth, and death, and it remains there until the very end. The conclusion is interesting both narratively and in terms of its worldview. Rarely does a war novel revolve around a woman giving birth and a child being born.”

KANSAN

UUTISET

Memory of Ocean

(Meren muisti)

Otava / 2022 / 300 pp.

An unknow narrator aboard an icebreaker examines the changes caused by global warming in the Artic Ocean for a documentary and reveals that the biggest players of the oil industry were already in 1959 aware of their dangerous impact on nature and climate change. Instead of acting, the industry opted for a strong counter narrative.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 50 pp. Synopsis

Land of Snow and Ashes

(Tuhkaan piirretty maa)

Otava / 2020 / 229 pp.

In the middle of the Arctic wilderness in North-Eastern Lapland, in 1944: A young Finnish soldier, Väinö, works as a translator at a German-led prison camp where extreme cruelty is part of daily life. The crimes committed are buried deep in human mind, but later omitted with complete silence in the official history.

© Teija Soini / Otava

JENNI RÄINÄ (b. 1980) is an acclaimed non-fiction writer and journalist. In 2019, she and her co-authors won the Finlandia Non-Fiction Prize for The Forest After Us (Metsä meidän jälkeeme, Like, 2019) and Räinä’s debut novel, Marsh Memories (Suo muistaa, Gummerus, 2022) was nominated for the Bothnia Prize. Räinä’s family roots are in the small hamlet of Hyry (pop. 200) just north of Oulu, where she currently lives.

Persecution (Vaino)

First published in Finnish by Otava / 2025 / 256 pp.

What is a person willing to do in order to survive?

“A horrific but poetic ode about the Great Wrath.”

SAVON SANOMAT

“Jenni Räinä skillfully portrays the horrors and human tragedies of the Great Wrath in North Ostrobothnia. The strengths of the novel lie in its linguistic style, the rhythm of the text and the descriptions of nature.”

KALEVA

“Jenni Räinä’s Persecution is a terrifying but poetic hymn about the Great Wrath of the 18th century. The author compiles the suffering of civilians into an ode in which the harsh and brutal reality meets the beauty of mires and forests.

ETELÄ-SUOMEN SANOMAT

Northern Ostrobothnia, 1715. Valpuri, a young woman from the small town of Ii, and her two brothers flee from the Russian troops of Peter the Great, who leave behind smoking villages and mutilated bodies. Valpuri’s only refuge are the hyperborean forests and waterways that offer solace and refuge, and the hope that her brothers will survive.

Meanwhile, a teenage boy returns to the region with the Cossacks on a mission to uncover their hiding place and destroy them all. Valpuri realises that the boy is all too familiar to her - the son of the now-expelled rural police chief of Ii, Gustaf Lillbäck - whose three sons had been kidnapped by the Russians.

A masterly novel that grips the reader in its hold, Persecution transports the reader to the darkest moments of the Great Wrath, a time when nature was still untouched, but human lives were cheaper than ever. An unforgettably powerful novel about escape and survival in the midst of destruction that gets under the reader’s skin and stays with you long after the last page.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 80 pp. Synopsis

HISTORICAL NOTE

In 1715, during the period known as The Great Wrath, Peter the Great commanded that northern Finland be reduced to scorched earth in the final years of The Great Northern War. The sparsely populated region was raped and pillaged with six thousand civilians murdered and thousands of children kidnapped and taken to Russia. Those who remained were tortured or forced to flee to the safety of the surrounding mires and forests. Little of it was documented as the Swedish correspondents of the Crown had fled across the border to Sweden.

“Jenni Räinä’s description of the violence of 1715 reads like a contemporarynovel. [...] Räinä brings her characters to life with astonishing sensitivity.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

“Jenni Räinä compiles the suffering of civilians into an ode where the harsh reality meets the beauty of swamps and forests.”

KESKISUOMALAINEN

The Book of Samael

(Samaelin kirja)

First published in Finnish by Tammi / 2025 / 253 pp.

Set against the brutal landscape of the 1930s Finnish west coast, The Book of Samael plunges readers into a harrowing tale of survival.

Ramiel doesn’t speak, but he sees everything — even when others see nothing at all. When a professor arrives from the city to a small coastal village, Ramiel’s stepfather promises to take him on a winter seal hunting expedition across the frozen Baltic Sea. They hire an experienced hunter who knows the treacherous ways of ice and seals, but nothing can prepare them for what awaits.

Hautala’s story Pale Toes was nominated for the 2020 Shirley Jackson Award. In his native Finland he has received the Tiiliskivi Prize, Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize and was nominated for the Young Aleksis Kivi Prize in 2013.

PUBLISHERS OF RECORD

Czech (Euromedia; Knižní Klub, Golden Dog)

German (dtv)

English (AmazonCrossing)

Italian (Newton Compton)

“Marko Hautala’s latest novel proves that the comparisons to Stephen King are not unjust.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

“Marko Hautala surprises – the new book is a chilling leap into history.”

ILKKA POHJALAINEN

On the ice, merciless conditions quickly bring the expedition to its knees. As tensions mount between the men and survival becomes uncertain, Ramiel must choose sides. When the threat of violence looms, his only protection is a mystical tome inherited from his father — the Book of Samael itself.

Marko Hautala, the master of Finnish literary horror, masterfully weaves supernatural elements into a gripping, atmospheric thriller of endurance and survival. A Nordic answer to Dan Simmons’ The Terror with considerable brevity.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 30 pp.

Synopsis

Author letter

“Marko Hautala successfully refrains from explaining too much. It is a hallmark of his psychological horror.”

TURUN SANOMAT

[...] The book is an easy-to-read, fluent novella that succeeds in drawing readers into a series of historical events.”

SAVON SANOMAT

“The Book of Samael is a movie-like reading experience, as a closed-setting novel should be at its best.”

KULTTUURITOIMITUS

ELLI SALO is a Finnish writer, playwright and translator. She has studied dramaturgy and Slavonic languages and is currently writer-in-residence at the Finnish National Theatre. Her debut novel, The Gatherers is based on her play of the same name, which opened in 2024 at Kajaani City Theatre and was awarded the 2025 Lea Prize for Drama by the Finnish Playwrights and Scriptwriters Association.

The Gatherers was nominated for a hat trick of literary awards in 2025: the Finlandia Prize, the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and the Torch-Bearer Prize.

The Gatherers

(Keräilijät)

First published in Finnish by Otava / 2025 / 206 pp.

A tragicomic novel about gathering and gatherers where three women and a retired dog find themselves randomly convened at a deserted border patrol station at the Finnish-Russian border.

“The secret to Finnish happiness lies within this compelling debut novel.”

SATAKUNNAN KANSA

“Elli Salo’s debut novel gathers the physical and mental scars of World War II near the eastern border.”

SAVON SANOMAT

“Elli Salo’s The Gatherers is this spring’s literary highlight, and with good reason.”

TURUN SANOMAT

Taciturn Ani, once an award-winning wildlife-photographer, runs a declining bear-watching business for tourists in the remote outpost of Lääte, where she lives on the local campsite with her German Shepherd Friend, a retired border patrol dog.

Librarian Ljudmila, born and raised in the Soviet gulags and having endured marriage to a Finn, now gets by on her own foraging berries and mushrooms for a living and residing in a worn-out caravan filled with herbs, potions and stories.

Then, Heini, a Finnish archeologist bereaved by the death of her younger brother, temporarily moves into a nearby cabin to map out mass graves from the renowned battles on Raate Road in 1940, to gather ghosts on the map, and to face the big questions in life.

A bond grows between the three women, and as far as they may seem from everything, as close to the core of almost everything they get. Suddenly, the peripheral Lääte turns into the navel of the world: history that seems to be catching up with us, human knowledge of civilization and the disappearance of the untamed nature come together in this touching yet comic novel about life, not death. The embodiment of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Elli Salo tells the story not of those who hunt or conquer, but those who stay behind to cook, wash dishes, boil potatoes - the gatherers - even in the midst of crisis and catastrophe. Cheryl Strayed’s Wild meets Lyudmila Ulitskaya in the wilds of eastern Finland.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 62 pp. Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

Hungarian (Polar)

“The Gatherers is an innovative debut novel that stands out from the crowd. The combination of tragedy and comedy creates a balanced entity. It will make you cry and laugh.”

UUSI SUOMI

“A feast of literary delights. [...] Salo weaves together her bold ingredients into an original, joyful and greater- than-the-sum-of-its-parts whole, which plays, teases, and hits the mark by channeling through laughter and tragedy.”

HELSINGIN SANOMAT

QUYNH TRAN (b. 1989) grew up in Jakobstad, Finland and now lives in Malmö, Sweden. His debut, Shade and Breeze (Skugga och svalka, Norstedts, 2021) won the Borås Tidnings Debut Prize, the Runeberg Prize, and the Swedish Yle Literature Prize. It has been translated into six languages to date.

PUBLISHERS OF ‘SHADE & BREEZE’

Danish (Turbine)

English (Lolli Editions)

Finnish (Teos)

French (Le Castor Astral)

German (Residenz)

Norwegian (Oktober)

Swedish (Norstedts)

“The sharp psychological portraits make the novel a page-turner-proof of a mature authorship.”

SMÅLANDSPOSTEN

“Quynh Tran is a writer of moods, where soft chords are occasionally broken by violent outbursts in what could be an ordinary youth novel, but is not.”

DAGENS NYHETER

“Quynh Tran is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting authors in the Nordic countries right now.”

VASABLADET

Other People’s Pleasure

(När andra njuter)

First published in Swedish by Albert Bonniers (SE) and Förlaget (FI) / 2025 / 287 pp.

The award-winning Other People’s Pleasure is a novel about a mother and a daughter, about violence and desire, and about the longing for the unknown that waits around the corner.

“He knew nothing and she knew everything; she could already see it in her mind, how she would break his heart, but not yet.”

Lana hasn’t had a boyfriend in six months. The memory of that spring night, when she and her friends were stalked, throbs in her head, and a raw anger sweeps over her. Now she’s wary of everyone. Even her mum, Maggiewhat kind of name is that?

Maggie is preoccupied with her work at the Japanese salon in Lund, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. She and Lana are about to move to a bigger apartment - Maggie struggles to afford the deposit, while old memories come flooding back: the Vietnamese rainy season and the first lover, the sugar cane leaves that scratched her skin; the man she married instead, who brought her to Sweden. The dreams of a nice little life.

The novel is nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2026.

READING MATERIAL

Swedish edition & PDF

Sample translation 30 pp. Synopsis

“He has skilfully avoided the clichés and drawn contradictory portraits that challenge the reader’s expectations and expose the limitations of our ability to see.”

SYDSVENSKAN

“Tran more than succeeds in portraying the thoughts and traumas of two different generations. Not only through the flowing and stylistically dense prose, but also by putting the reader in a trance by depicting the everyday mood.”

ÖSTERBOTTENS TIDNING

“It is with astonishing accuracy that he appropriates the idioms of both the mother and the sixteen-year-old daughter, with extra plus for having channelled a teenager’s taste in music.”

JÖNKÖPINGS-POSTEN

CRISTINA SANDU (b. 1989) is a writer and translator, born in Helsinki to a Finnish-Romanian family. Sandu speaks seven languages and currently lives in the UK. Her first novel, The Whale Called Goliat (2017), was nominated for the Finlandia Prize. The Union of Synchronised Swimmers (2019) received the Toisinkoinen Literary Prize. Sandu’s novels have been translated into eight languages to date.

The Danish Expedition

(Tanskalainen retkikunta)

Otava / 2024 / 367 pp.

The much-awaited third novel by Finlandia Prize-nominee and author of The Union of Synchonrised Swimmers, Cristina Sandu.

The Union of Synchronised Swimmers

(Vesileikit)

Otava / 2019 / 128 pp.

READING MATERIAL

(THE DANISH EXPEDITION)

Finnish edition & PDF

English translation (unedited)

Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

(THE DANISH EXPEDITION)

Hungarian (Polar)

RIGHTS SOLD

(THE UNION OF SYNCHRONISED SWIMMERS)

English, World excl. CA (Scribe)

English, Canada (Book*hug)

Spanish, World (Twin Books)

Dutch (Orlando)

RIGHTS SOLD

(THE WHALE CALLED GOLIATH)

French (Robert Laffont)

Romanian (Cartea Romaneasca Ed.)

Catalan (Nits Blanques)

Spanish, World (Twin Brooks)

Nicaragua, 1923: A group of Danish emigrants embark on foot with their mules in the pouring rain on a trip across the mountains and the jungle to their promised land, Río Blanco, where they hope to grow coffee and make a better life for themselves.

But the soil proves impossible to cultivate, and with the sudden death of the Nicaraguan president, the community’s support from the state comes to an end. The colony’s founders walk off with the collective funds to build their own business, leaving a strained atmosphere behind. Mere months later, treachery, revenge, hunger, disease, and death have destroyed the community’s dream and, for some, the colony experiment ends up in tragedy.

The Danish community’s paths continue crossing throughout a civil war and World War II, spanning across decades and generations. Carefully drawn portraits of the families and their journeys tell a story of belonging, cultural ties, broken dreams, and the continued hope of finding a place to settle, told with Sandu’s distinctive powerful language wielded with a light touch.

Six girls grow up on a piece of land between two rivers, belonging to no state. Swimming is their passion, but also a way to reach out to the world. As a team of synchronised swimmers, they perform skilful tricks in and underwater.

Far away in Helsinki, Anita falls in love with Spiderman. In California, onboard a fishing boat, Paulina acquires the ingredients for her homeland’s traditional soup. On a Caribbean island, Betty gambles away all her money.

The stories of young rootless women, suffering from undefined feelings of longing, come together in a dazzling multifaceted novella, reaching across the world.

The Union of Synchronised Swimmers was awarded the Toisinkoinen Literature Prize for second novels.

“The writing is as graceful as the movements in the river they so elegantly swim in […] A small punchy, almost pocket-sized literary work of art, it’s somewhat offbeat from your regular novel. Read conscientiously to grasp unspoken atmospheres and clues between the lines.”

IRISH EXAMINER

ARTO PAASILINNA (1942-2018)

worked as a lumberjack and journalist before becoming a full-time writer. He published thirty-five novels and twelve non-fiction works during his lifetime, cementing his authorship as one full of creative vision, humour, and uplifting portrayals of man’s relationship with nature. One of Finland’s most wellknown writers, his works have been translated into over 40 languages and have sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

The Year of the Hare

(Jäniksen vuosi)

First published in Finnish by Weilin+Göös / 1975 / 182 pp.

The internationally bestselling comic novel about a man who realises what’s important in life after he befriends an injured hare. Celebrating 50 years since its first publication in 2025.

“No wonder the French have made this book into a cult. Finnish wit as sharp as the Arctic weather.”

MAIL ON SUNDAY

Journalist Vatanen is burned out and sick of the city. One summer evening he accidently hits a young hare on a country road. He tends to the hare’s leg, befriends the creature, and gradually sheds his former life.

The incident becomes a life-changing experience for Vatanen, who decides to quit his job, leave his wife, and sell his possessions to travel Finland with his new-found friend. Their adventures lead them to forest fires, pagan sacrifices, and killer bears before they settle down in a cosy cabin in the wilds of Lapland.

The Year of the Hare is a wildly entertaining mix of fable, farce, mid-life crisis, and travel book. It’s a tale of freedom, commitment, and survival that has been charming readers around the world for decades and is also credited with having inspired Jonas Jonasson’s The 100-YearOld Man Who Climbed Out the Window.

This award-winning book is widely considered Arto Paasilinna’s best work and a Finnish literary classic which will be reissued in a special anniversary edition by WSOY in 2025.

The UNESCO Collection of Representative Works classified it as a masterpiece of world literature.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF (WSOY anniversary ed.)

French, German & Swedish PDF Synopsis

The Forest of the Hanged Foxes (Hirtettyjen kettujen metsä)

WSOY / 1982 / 234 pp.

Dark, macabre humour from Arto Paasilinna, the much-loved Kurt Vonnegut of the North.

Three small-time crooks grow tired of living in poverty and decide to steal a pretty hefty amount of gold. Unfortunately, things don’t quite go to plan and two of them end up getting caught.

A Happy Man (Onnellinen mies)

WSOY / 1976 / 187 pp.

A wickedly funny satire about money, power, and the joys of small-town life.

Bridge engineer Akseli Jaatinen is tasked with replacing Kuusmäki’s rotten wooden bridge with a concrete one, on the very spot where, during the 1918 civil war, a bloody battle between the ‘whites’ and ‘reds’ took place – an episode whose memory continues to divide the residents of the village.

TOVE JANSSON (1914-2001)

Finnish-Swedish writer and artist, achieved worldwide fame as the creator of the Moomins. Already admired in Nordic art circles as a painter, cartoonist and illustrator, she would go on to write a series of classic novels and short stories. She remains Scandinavia’s best-loved author.

The True Deceiver

(Den ärliga bedragaren)

First published in Swedish 1982 / 208 pp.

Everybody’s talking about Katri Kling and Anna Aemelin. Katri is a yellow-eyed outcast who lives with her simpleminded brother and a dog she refuses to name. Anna, an elderly children’s book illustrator, ventures out from her large, empty house only in spring to paint exquisitely detailed forest scenes. Anna has something Katri wants – and by the time spring arrives, the two women are caught in a conflict that threatens the equilibrium of the whole village.

The Summer Book

(Sommarboken)

First published in Swedish 1972 / 160 pp.

An elderly artist and her six-yearold granddaughter Sophia spend the summer together on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. They wander the island, having philosophical conversations of all kinds, talking about death, or how best to dive into water. They fight. They curse. They have adventures, building things and breaking into the new summer house on a neighbouring island, outraged that the businessman who built it doesn’t leave the door open.  Written with clarity, brusque humour and wisdom, The Summer Book is a fresh, vivid and magical novel about seemingly endless summers of discovery.

The Summer Book feature film, starring Glenn Close in the lead, now showing in cinemas

The Listener

(Lyssnerskan)

First published in Swedish 1971 / 192 pp.

TRANSLATED INTO OVER 40 LANGUAGES TO DATE

The Listener was the first of Tove Jansson’s books to be published after the death of her mother, the point at which she declared the Moomin series over. This collection of short stories is different from Tove’s previous work; fragmentary, starting and stopping in the middle of things. Fascinatingly, the illustrator Edward Gorey appears in one of the stories saying: “It’s the unexpressed that interests me ... it’s a mistake to clarify everything.” This seems to aptly describe Tove’s writing.

The Field of Stones

(Stenåkern)

First published in Swedish 1984 / 108 pp.

A recently retired journalist leaves the city to spend the summer in the country with his two daughters. Tasked with writing the biography of the unpleasant ‘Y’, he soon finds his chronicle of this character’s life morphing into his own family’s troubled story. The darkness that surfaces is handled with Tove’s distinct humour and lightness of touch.

Fair Play

(Rent spel)

First published in Swedish 1989 / 152 pp.

Through a series of vignettes, we look in on the lives of two female artists, Mari and Jonna, who live on opposite sides of an apartment building, separated by an attic. They are each other’s closest friend, greatest critic, and lover. We encounter them lost in a fog, vacationing on a remote Finnish island, fishing, feeding the cat, or simply rearranging photos on a wall.

Tove’s whimsical yet philosophical prose about human generosity and respect perfectly echoes her signature subjects: work and love.

Sun City (Solstaden)

First published in Swedish 1974 / 160 pp.

This novella, about the inhabitants of a Florida retirement home, hints at the dark reality found behind a utopian vision. Alienation, abandonment and ageing foreshadow the spectre of death – with some people simply choosing to ignore it.

Letters from Klara (Brev från Klara)

First published in Swedish 1991 / 175 pp.

In this nimble, beautifully crafted yet disquieting collection of stories, Tove Jansson explores the complicated games and relationships between people, writing from the perspective of a bewildered young artist, a resilient child or an irascible elderly correspondent. Discomfiting encounters and periods of isolation can span decades, generations even. A simple letter can reveal as much of the sender as the receiver, and how easy it can be to misunderstand one another.

The Doll’s House (Dockskåpet)

First published in Swedish 1978 / 208 pp.

A collection of twelve short stories about obsession and ambition. Witty, sharp and often disquieting, these stories explore human nature and the way in which mysteries and uncertainty — even illness and danger — can have positive and magical potential. The stories share a recurring theme: what happens when artists and eccentrics, who hide away in the back corners of middle-class society, try to change their already difficult relationship with the world?

Messages: A selection of short

stories

(Meddelande)

First published in Swedish 1998 / 303 pp.

A marvellous collection of Tove Jansson’s prose, spanning most of the twentieth century and scattered with insights into beauty found in the everyday. Messages features several stories from A Sculptor’s Daughter as well as Tove’s later story collections.

Discover the new website, Instagram, and newsletter dedicated to the life and work of Tove Jansson at tovejansson.com

A

Sculptor’s Daughter

(Bildhuggarens dotter)

First published in Swedish 1968 / 192 pp.

Tove Jansson’s first book for adults captures her childhood memories, as she grew up in an early twentiethcentury Helsinki that was getting used to independence from Russian rule. This atmospheric book is filled with sharp observations on the mysteries of winter ice, the bonhomie of balaika parties, and the limitless excitement of Christmas viewed from beneath the tree. While Tove learns a lot from her father, her identity as a writer is formed partly in opposition to him — especially when it comes to the subject of women and art.

“Tove Jansson was one of the 20th century’s most brilliant, enigmatic prose writers.”

BOSTON GLOBE

Travelling Light

(Resa med lätt bagage)

First published in Swedish 1987 / 224 pp.

A collection of twelve short stories about journeys of different kinds: some inward, some outward, all with complicated, unpredictable characters observing their surroundings as travellers, or with the unfettered gaze of a child. Tove’s signature deftness of touch and imagination gives these stories a duality between light and darkness.

KAUKONEN (b. 1929 d. 1983) was a Finnish writer from a working class background. He worked as a warehouse assistant, construction worker, farmer, ironworker, and painter before becoming a writer. The author of three novels and various plays, dramatisations and novellas, Kaukonen received critical acclaim for his debut, The Clan, which won the Tampere City Literature Prize in 1963.

The Clan

(Klaani)

First published in Finnish by Weilin+Göös / 1963 / 397 pp.

Hailed as a timeless classic, The Clan is a Dostoyevskian novel about a working class family living on the margins of society where violence and deprivation overrule any attempts to forge a more virtuous path in life.

Following the Sammakko family, brothers Samuli, Benjamin and Leevi endure a hard-scrabble life where the Sammakkos and their loved ones balance their lives on the line between right and wrong. The counterforce is represented by the police - a clan of their own. Awakened to the intersection of society’s values and his own family’s choices, Aleksanteri Sammakko, the youngest son, realises the possibility of a better life. But the young hopeful of the family is drawn into fights and larceny.

Tauno Kaukonen received critical acclaim for a narrative power rarely seen in debuts, garnering him success and an immediate bestseller status in Finland at the time. In timelessly fresh and colourful language, coupled with its realistic narrative and expressive portrayal of humanity, The Clan remains as relevant as ever sixty years after its first publication.

“The Clan is not just any debut, but bold, cheerful and fantastic - and a surprisingly confident piece of work at that. The words flow and hurt; the subject matter and its handling is exceptional in its monstrous rogueishness.”

KAUPPALEHTI

“The Clan is a novel of skilful storytelling and expressive, vivid portrayal of humanity. It is a legend of the fringes, whose author has held an extraordinary breadth of imagination and skill in tying his rich material into a whole that is of interest and value.”

SUOMEN KUVALEHTI (1963)

“Tampere’s answer to Mark Twain.”

SOSIAALIDEMOKRAATTI (1963)

The novel was adapted into a feature film in 1984, directed by Mika Kaurismäki, with an award-winning original soundtrack composed by Anssi Tikanmäki. Most recently, it was adapted for the stage by Tampere Theatre in 2023. The novel has only ever been translated into Hungarian and Rights & Brands is pleased to be the first-ever foreign rights representation for the novel. A full English translation will be available soon.

READING MATERIAL

Finnish edition & PDF

Sample translation 50 pp.

Full English translation (tk spring 2026) Synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD

All rights available

“... a very polished text and lively sentences.”

PEKKA PIIRTO, HELSINGIN SANOMAT (1963)

“What delights in Kaukonen’s novel, alongside the tremendous epic power development, is the author’s innate and unsentimental warmth, which creates a rare beautiful and luminous portrayal of young love as a wonderful adventure in the shadow of crime and danger and the foreboding of sad disappearances. It has also enabled Kaukonen, like Dostoyevsky, to bestow on bitter misery, on deep decay, on bad people, a piece of undeniable human dignity.”

CHRISTER KIHLMAN, DAGENS NYHETER (1964)

www.rightsandbrands.com

facebook/rightsandbrands publishing@rightsandbrands.com

instagram/rightsandbrands

linkedin/rights&brands

Poland

Macadamia Literary Agency

Magda Cabajewska magda@macadamialit.com

Rights & Brands’ Literary Team

Eleonoora Kirk

Literary Agent eleonoora.kirk@rightsandbrands.com

+46 79 104 54 94

Elin Rydner

Literary Agent elin.rydner@rightsandbrands.com +46 76 947 70 40

Friederike Ridegh

Literary Agent friederike.ridegh@rightsandbrands.com +358 40 837 6325

Tuomas Sorjamaa Literary Agent tuomas.sorjamaa@rightsandbrands.com +358 50 351 0872

Rosenlundsgatan 31 118 63