News

Rival to the Cotton Mill, the 3rd volume in the Cotton Mill Trilogy by Ann-Christin Antell, has been ranked in the top 10 most listened books of 2023 on Bookbeat Finland. In Sweden the 2nd volume, Heir To The Cotton Mill, has just been welcomed on Storytel Sweden. The series, sold to five countries so far, has been a sensational bestseller in Finland.

Wonderful news for our author Ann-Christin Antell: the wildly successful Cotton Mill Trilogy has been confirmed as a readers’ favourite and the third book in the series, Rival to the Cotton Mill, in ranked in the Top 10 of the year’s most listened books on Bookbeat for 2023.

In Sweden, Heir To The Cotton Mill (Swedish title: Bomullsfabrikens arvtagare) has just been welcomed after the fantastic success of the first volume.

The Cotton Mill Trilogy has been a sensational bestseller in Finland, with over 140.000 sold copies in Finland alone, proving that entertainment and quality are not mutually exclusive. This masterfully constructed series follows three generations of women, from the late 1800s leading up to the Roaring Twenties, skilfully combining romance, Finnish history, the fight for workers’ rights and feminism.

The Shadow of the Cotton Mill depicts the life of an independent woman, Jenny Malmström, in an era when industrialists make up the new elite, women demand equality, and Finland’s status as a nation is undergoing a transformation.

Heir to the Cotton Mill picks up the story of the Barker family that began in The Shadow of the Cotton Mill. It is now the early 20th century, and Finland’s cultural elite, with their strong sense of nationhood, find themselves at odds with Russia’s increasingly oppressive policies. Meanwhile, social mobility and working-class ideologies are on the rise.

Rival to the Cotton Mill is the final book of the Cotton Mill trilogy about the Barker family. It is the modern era of jazz and progress, and Jenny’s granddaughter and Martta’s daughter Paula has gained her position as the advertising manager of the mill. Times are changing, but fortunately there seems to be love left for the young ones, too.

So far, the Cotton Mill Trilogy has traveled to Denmark, France, Iceland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Warm congratulations to the author, and don’t miss out on this series!

Dear friends,

What a wonderful year it has been, thank you all! It is now time to get into the festive spirit, and have a well-deserved restful holiday: Helsinki Literary Agency will be closed on week 52, and will reopen in January 2024.

Wishing you a lovely festive season, and very much looking forward to a brilliant 2024,

Viivi & the HLA Team

Leena Krohn’s The Pelican’s New Clothes and Mathematical Creatures have been acquired in a two-book deal for the Danish rights by Jensen & Dalgaard.

Stunning news for our fiction list: Leena Krohn’s The Pelican’s New Clothes and Mathematical Creatures are travelling to Denmark, where they will be published by Jensen & Dalgaard.

In The Pelican’s New Clothes, a pelican lands on a beach and becomes fascinated by the way humans live. The bird dresses like a human, gets an apartment, finds work at the opera, falls in love, lives just like anyone else. Grown-ups don’t notice anything, but children see right through the pelican’s disguise. Before long, the pelican meets its neighbor, ten-year-old Emil, who has recently moved to the city with his mother. Emil comes to serve as the pelican’s guide into the world of humans. 

Originally published in 1976, The Pelican’s New Clothes is a classic of Finnish children’s literature: an enchanting fantasy adventure touching to readers of all ages. It is a story of two strangers who meet in the big city and become friends, a story of dreams, disappointments, and joy. The Pelican’s New Clothes has been translated into fourteen languages and adapted for the screen as a full-length movie.

Mathematical Creatures, or Shared Dreams is a collection of twelve short, fantastical stories exploring the basis of human identity and human choices, knowledge and ignorance, mortality and immortality.

The narrator delves in the questions of visible reality and existence. Around her, there are strange creatures, such as gorgonoids, tubanide, pacmantis and lissajoune, which look like aliens and act as if they were from science fiction. Instead, they simulate certain physiological principles of the earth. And when the narrator compares a gorgonoid with a human, the underlying question is if spirit is just a mathematical equation.

Mathematical Creatures, or Shared Dreams was awarded Finland’s most important literary award, Finlandia Prize.

Jensen & Dalgaard is a beautiful Danish independent publishing house that publishes books for both adults and children, with a particular eye for unusual themes and literary perspectives. They are the Danish home of other HLA titles like Heavensong by Pauliina Rauhala, Matara by Matias Riikonen and REC by Marisha Rasi-Koskinen among others.

Warmest congratulations!

The Book of Misty Trees by award-winning and best-selling author Anja Portin has been sold to Estonia, where it will be published by Uhinenud Ajakirjad, marking the first foreign deal for this title.

Fantastic news for our children’s list: The Book of Misty Trees by Anja Portin, the author of award-winning and international bestseller Radio Popov, is travelling to Estonia where it will be published by Uhinenud Ajakirjad.

The Book of Misty Trees follows Magda Murkbird as she loses her mother in a horrible accident and needs to learn to cope on her own. Luckily, she is not all alone but has Chestnut – the best dog on earth. In fact, it is thanks to Chestnut that Magda has survived unscathed. The two set off on a journey to look for Magda’s aunt she has never met, and on the way they get lost in a mysterious thick fog covering the peak of the Misty Mountain. 

Thus begins an unforgettable adventure in a world governed by Misty Trees, above all the eldest of them, the fountain of all living, the enormous Everbark.  Nothing and no one is what they seem, but will Magda find what she is looking for?

A classic adventure book with a environmentally conscious twist, The Book of Misty Trees takes readers on an epic journey into a new world where people and nature rely on each other to survive and thrive.

Uhinenud Ajakirjad is an Estonian publishing house that is home to many well-loved Finnish books like A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large and Radio Popov.

Warm congratulations to the author, and don’t miss out on this title!

Close Your Eyes, Iris by authors Anna Sofia Urrila, Henna Kaisa Wigren, Kirsi-Marja Zitting and illustrator Virpi Kaarina Talvitie is celebrating its first foreign deal and travelling to Turkey.

Fantastic news for our children’s list: Close Your Eyes, Iris is travelling to Turkey, where it will be published by Hayalkurdu Kitap, a Turkish publishing house specialising in children’s literature.

Close your Eyes, Iris is an easy-to-read book about the fascinating and still largely unknown world of sleep. Many exciting aspects of sleep receive a child-level explanation which will also interest adult readers.

Do also jellyfish sleep, and how, as they don’t have brains or eyes? How can bears sleep all winter? How do sleep and sleeplessness affect the human body? And why is it sometimes really difficult to wake up? Close Your Eyes, Iris answers all these question in an entertaining and clear style, and with adorable and colourful illustrations.

Warm congratulations to the authors, and don’t miss out on this title!