Fiction
© Aleksandra Lemke
Eva Frantz: Die Tote im Wasser
Aufbau, Berlin, publication: 6/2025, translator: Leena Flegler,
Helsinki Literary Agency (Ungen min får du aldrig, Schildts & Söderströms 2023).
crime fiction, FinNoir
FILI Reads A drainage well next to the children's playground floods and the cause will soon be discovered. Detective Inspector Anna Glad is balancing the pressures of home and work, and the new don't make things any easier. You Will Not Take My Child effectively combines the secrets of the past with the pressures of modern life, successfully portraying the state of child protection and offering a close-up view of life in a small town and its inhabitants.
© Miikka Pirinen
Susanna Hast: Body of evidence
Nautilus, Hamburg, publication: 09/2025, translator: Tanja Küddelsman,
Helsinki Literary Agency (Ruumis/huoneet, S&S, 2022).
literary fiction
FILI Reads Body of Evidence by Susanna Hast is an interesting novel that deals with the author’s own personal history. She studies herself, trying to learn the truth of what happened to her as a teenager when she was a victim of sexual violence. She tried to cope and thought she was doing fine, but later noticed that things were not so straightforward. She courageously seeks out her forgotten past and examines this void in her history through the memories of her body. It is a bold novel and very impressive. Recommended reading!
© Otto Virtanen
Martta Kaukonen: Traumatisiert
Heyne, München, publication: 12.03.2025, translator: Gabriele Schrey-Vasara, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Hengissä, WSOY 2023).
crime fiction
FILI Reads Sequel to the critically acclaimed Spiegel bestseller Therapiert. Five years have passed since the events of Therapiert. Ira and Arto have teamed up and both work as crime journalists. Everything’s going nicely, until they start suspecting there’s a serial killer on the loose in Helsinki.
© Niclas Mäkelä
Katja Kettu: The Investigations of a Certain Cat
Weissbooks, Berlin, publication: 3/2025, translator: Tanja Küddelsman, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Erään kissan tutkimuksia, Otava 2023).
literary fiction
FILI Reads A mysterious detective, a cat, drops into the author's life from the heavens at the darkest moment of her life: she has lost the child she was expecting – again – and with it everything, her ability to write. With no light in the future, the Author begins to look to the past for a solution, by peering into the life of her great-grandmother Eeva during the turbulent years of the country's independence. A magnificent, captivating novel about life's greatest dreams, which you are forced to learn to replace with new ones, again and again. The Investigations of One Cat also shows that words have power, that stories can create justice and new truths in the world.
© Laura Malmivaara
Sirpa Kähkönen: 36 Urns: A History of Being Wrong
Blessing Verlag, München, publication: 8/2025, translator: Stefan Moster, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (36 uurnaa. Väärässä olemisen historia, Siltala 2023).
literary fiction
FILI Reads Kähkönen’s strongly autobiographical novel is beautiful and moving. It is a direct, unadorned speech from a daughter to a dead mother. After her mother’s death, the daughter discovers that their small family grave plot can hold thirty-six urns. So the daughter supplies her mother with thirty-six grave offerings – objects and stories – through which she makes an inventory of her mother’s life and youth as well as of transgenerational traumas, including her own childhood in the shadow of a violent and unpredictable mother. The most important thing, however, is the desire to understand – and loving memories.
© Jonne Räsänen
Tuomas Oskari (Niskakangas): The Eagle
Bastei Lübbe, Köln, publication: fall 2025, translator: Anke Michler-Janhunen, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Kotka, Otava 2024).
crime fiction, FinNoir
Ville Ranta: Wie ich Frankreich erobert habe
Reprodukt, Berlin, publication: 3/2025, translator: Elina Kritzokat,
Rights & Brands (Kuinka valloitin Ranskan, WSOY 2021).
© Laura Malmivaara
Minna Rytisalo: Jenny Hill
Carl Hanser Verlag, München, publication: fall 2025, translator Maximilian Murmann, Bonnier Rights Finland (Jenny Hill, WSOY 2023).
literary fiction
FILI Reads What’s left for an ordinary, middle-aged woman, when the children have grown up and moved out of the house, and her husband has found someone new? Jenni Mäki becomes Jenny Hill, who writes therapy letters to Brigitte Macron, learns to set boundaries and is no longer worried about embarrassing herself or making other people happy. Fairy-tale characters, from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty, provide painfully candid commentary on Jenny’s story, while at the same time rewriting the stuffy, patriarchal portrayal of women in their own stories. "The first step was to leave, the second was to look it all straight in the eye. Maybe you helped with that, Brigitte."
© Björgvin Hilmarsson
Satu Rämö: Hildur – Die Toten am Meer
Hildur series #4
Heyne, München. Publication: 13.08.2025. Translator: Gabriele Schrey-Vasara, Bonnier Rights Finland (Rakel, WSOY 2024)
© Lari Järnefelt
Max Seeck: Blindspiel
Bastei Lübbe, Köln, publication: 27.06.2025, translator: Gabriele Schrey-Vasara, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Merkitty, Tammi 2024).
crime fiction, FinNoir
© Liisa Valonen
Niilo Sevänen: The Path of Eternal Winter
Bastei Lübbe, Köln, publication: 10/2025, translator: Gabriele Schrey-Vasara, Helsinki Literary Agency (Ikitalven polku, Gummerus 2024).
fantasy
FILI Reads In the year 1000, the White Witch destroyed Europe, leaving behind cold and chaos. After seven years of silence, a group of reluctant and disunited heroes sets out on a journey to take a little girl, Halla, to safety. As the story progresses, the girl’s true powers are gradually revealed. Alongside interesting protagonists and plot twists, beasts, dangers and mysticism, there is also humour to be found in this enjoyable fantasy that draws from a wide range of mythologies and traditions. As Helsingin Sanomat newspaper put it: “The Path of Eternal Winter is a strong start to a book series that you would want to devour immediately."
© Ano Kurki
Pajtim Statovci: Bolla
Luchterhand, München, publication: 26.03.2025, translator: Stefan Moster, Wylie Agency (Bolla, Otava 2019).
literary fiction
FILI Reads April 1995: Arsim is a twenty-two-year-old, recently-married student at the University of Pristina, keeping his head down to gain his degree in an institution deeply hostile to Albanians. In a café he meets a young medical student, and Serb, named Miloš which leads to two milestones in Arsim’s married life within a week: his wife announces her first pregnancy, and he commits his first act of violence against her. After these febrile beginnings, Arsim and Miloš’s affair is derailed by the outbreak of war, which sends Arsim’s fledgling family abroad and the sensitive Miloš into a traumatising military career. Years later, deported back to Pristina after a spell in prison, Arsim begins a search for his lost love but the Miloš with whom he is finally reunited is not the man he once knew. Entwined with their story is the legend of the Bolla, a demonic serpent known as Kulshedra, which is traditionally released only once a year to devour everything in sight over the course of a single day; an unearthly tale that gives Arsim and Miloš a language through which to reflect on their desperate relationship.
© Jonne Räsänen
Kaisu Tuokko: Revenge
The Kristinestad Murders #1
Aufbau, Berlin, publication: fall 2025, translator: Anu Katariina Lindemann, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Kosto, Otava 2023).
crime fiction, FinNoir
FILI Reads In her debut novel Revenge Kaisu Tuokko introduces the reader to the idyllic town of Kristinestad on the Finnish coast. Eevi Manner, who has moved back to her hometown with her artist husband, has started working as a journalist for the local newspaper. The sleepy atmosphere is shattered when the body of a young man is found in the sea. The death shocks the small-town residents and raises questions about the present and the past. When visiting the crime scene, Eevi bumps into her ex-boyfriend, now detective Mats Bergholm and it is clear that their story is not over yet.
© Mikko Rasila
Arttu Tuominen: The Liberator
Bastei Lübbe, Köln, publication: fall 2025, translator: Anke Michler-Janhunen, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Vapahtaja, WSOY 2023).
crime fiction, FinNoir
FILI Reads The fifth part of the Delta series takes us to the roots of yet another social ill. Surveillance cameras witness as more outcasts set themselves on fire as a silent figure watches on from the sidelines. Paloviita and partners investigate the arson murders while at the same time Delta Team Inspector Susanna Manner fights for her son, who has become entangled in a dangerous drug organisation. Tuominen has written another fine detective story, driven by a genuinely human interest in the characters and their lives.
Kjell Westö: Dusk 41
Piper, München, publication: 10/2025, translator: Kristina Maidt-Zinke,
Copenhagen Literary Agency (Skymning 41, Förlaget, 2023).
literary fiction
FILI Reads The story of Molly, an actress, and Henry, a war reporter, takes place during the brief period of peace after the end of the Winter War, with the threat of a new war hanging menacingly in the air. The point of view alternates between Molly and Henry, and their story speaks to love, the incompleteness of people, the search for one’s own identity and finding it in the shadow of deep, traumatic experiences of war. One of the book’s main characters is wartime Helsinki, with Westö creating a detailed and vivid picture of everyday life and the mood of the city. Storytelling at its best!
Children's & Young Adult Books
© Otto Virtanen
Kaisa Paasto: Anni und der geheimnisvolle Schatz
Loewe, Bindlach, publication: 3/2025, translator: Tanja Küddelsman, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Anni kaverinkesyttäjä suolaisilla vesillä, Tammi 2022).
© Marjaana Malkamäki
Elina Pitkäkangas: Die Gabe des Schattenkriegers
cbj Verlag, München, publication: 10.09.2025, translators Sarah Onkels / Claudia Nierste, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Sang, WSOY 2022).
FILI Reads Sang is a fascinating fantasy novel for young adults and other discerning readers. In the totalitarian Fusang, set in East Asia, the state monitors its inhabitants through a wrist-mounted device. The gap between the population classes is staggering and young Kong Dawei is forced to fight against an overwhelming opponent to preserve his own morals and values.
© Veikko Somerpuro
Salla Savolainen: Beton!
Wir bauen eine Brücke
Carl Hanser, München, publication: 28.01.2025, translator: Elina Kritzokat, Rights & Brands (Betonia!, WSOY 2022).
© Kyösti Kontio
Salla Savolainen: Junk!
Carl Hanser, München, publication: fall 2025, translator: Elina Kritzokat, Rights & Brands (Romua!, WSOY 2023).
© Jonne Räsänen
Arttu Unkari & Kai Vaalio: Dad Man and the Exploding Poop
Mixtvision, München, publication: spring 2025, translator: Sarah Onkels, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Isämies ja räjähtävä kakka, Otava 2020).
© Jonne Räsänen
Arttu Unkari & Kai Vaalio: Dad Man and the Evil Little Brother
Mixtvision, München, publication: spring 2025, translator: Sarah Onkels, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Isämies ja paha pikkuveli, Otava 2021).
Non-Fiction
@ Flatlight Films
Reetta Ranta: Die Magie nordischer Rituale
Mit finnischen Mythen und Bräuchen Kraft und Halt im Alltag finden
Goldmann, München, 19.06.2025, translator: Anu Katariina Lindemann, Elina Ahlback Literary Agency (Rituaalikirja — Etsijän opas, SKS Kirjat 2023).
