Swedish & Icelandic rights for the Cotton Mill trilogy sold

Ann-Christin Antell and her bestselling Cotton Mill trilogy is on fire! Just before the end of the summer, another fantastic deal was made, as Storytel acquired the Swedish and Icelandic rights for all three books.

This is the third (or, third and fourth) foreign rights deal for the trilogy: earlier in the summer, the Danish rights were sold to People’s Press and the French rights were acquired by Hachette’s imprint Marabout.

Meanwhile, the books continue to sweep the hearts of the Finnish readers: the total number of the copies sold for the books #1 and #2 has already reached 70,000. At the moment, Antell’s fans are eagerly waiting for book #3, due to be published in 2023.

Dubbed as Bridgerton meets L. M. Montgomery, the trilogy began with The Shadow of the Cotton Mill, in 2021, depicting the life of an independent woman in an era when industrialists make up the new elite, women demand equality, and Finland’s status as a nation is undergoing a transformation. 

The second instalment of the trilogy, Heir to the Cotton Mill (2022), picks up the story in the early 20th century, when Finland’s cultural elite, with their strong sense of nationhood, find themselves at odds with Russia’s increasingly oppressive policies.

Congratulations to the author!

101 Ways to Kill Your Husband sold to Gallimard

Fantastic foreign rights news continue: we are absolutely thrilled to announce that the Oulipo-esque murder mystery 101 Ways to Kill Your Husband by Laura Lindstedt & Sinikka Vuola was sold to Gallimard in France!

A publisher that hardly requires any introduction, Gallimard is among the best-known and most respected names in the publishing industry in the world. Since its founding in 1911, Gallimard has been known for publishing some of the most acclaimed voices of French and translated literature.

101 Ways to Kill Your Husband shook the Finnish literary scene in the beginning of 2022. In it, the author duo twists and turns a real-life murder into 101 wild and meticulous poses. The writers break the dismal convention of crime stories that begin with the discovery of the body of a young woman. This time, it is the violent husband who dies – 101 times over. The variations of Lindstedt and Vuola dazzle the reader whilst they unravel a tragic story of domestic abuse that ended up in the tabloids.

“Laura Lindstedt and Sinikka Vuola’s book 101 Ways to Kill Your Husband shows us how literature that is mindful of its form can be sociopolitical as well as entertaining. […] It succeeds in stretching its source material to all directions. The pages convey a joy in writing. […] The text shows a rare prism of gendered violence.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

This is the first foreign rights sale for this title.

Congratulations to both authors!