Helena Halme's Blog, page 11
June 19, 2018
Hate the Football World Cup? Escape to the Wonderful World of Box Sets Instead!
You must have noticed there’s something called Football World Cup on at the moment. In our house, it’s wall-to-wall football (or soccer as it’s called in the US) and already only a few days in, I’m sick of it. (Is it me, or do you think it’ll be even worse now England have won their first match?)
Are you suffering from the same?
An Escape Plan
Luckily, I have the perfect escape plan. While the football lovers scream and shout at the TV (or cry as the case may be), why not find a quiet place and read a book instead? A book can be read on the grass outside too, or inside in bed or in a comfy chair, or anywhere in fact! Or you can listen to an audiobook if you can’t get away from the deafening excitement of your local football fans and need to drown out the noise.
I’ve got a few suggestions for how to make your escape with box sets that will stay the course of the World Cup and transport you far, far away from football. Whether you want to disappear into suspenseful European crime novels, or into alternative historical Roman crime thrillers or romance, I’m sure these books will keep you at the edge of your seat as much as those watching the action from Russia.
The Beatrice Stubbs Box Set
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Meet Beatrice Stubbs, your new favorite detective!For lovers of intelligent crime fiction, this boxset by J J Marsh with three heart-racing European adventures is a must read.
Beatrice Stubbs of Scotland Yard: detective inspector, metaphor mixer and stubborn survivor.
Battling crime by day and her own demons by night, the question is always the same. Justice or the law?Behind Closed Doors sees Beatrice seconded to Switzerland. Wealthy, powerful men are committing suicide. Or are they? When the same DNA is found at each scene, DI Stubbs suspects someone is dispensing a personal retribution. Beneath the chocolate and charm, Zurich hides many secrets.
In Raw Material, Beatrice is divided. Hunting a sex offender on London Underground while trying to investigate illegal activity on a Welsh beach stretches her to her limits. Her partner and neighbour decide to assist. But amateur detectives and professional criminals make a bad mix.
Tread Softly. Time for a sabbatical. A gourmet trip to the north of Spain is exactly what DI Stubbs needs. Until she meets an old acquaintance who lures her into an investigation. Beatrice is up to her neck in missing persons, murder, corruption and Rioja.
Jump into these entertaining, well-written whodunnits today!
Across Oceans: Historical fiction collection
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Uprooted from their homes and forced to face the challenges and struggles of adapting to a new world.
These three stand-alone full-length novels are from the acclaimed historical fiction author, Clare Flynn. Each novel will transport you across oceans and back in time.
A Greater World takes you to the beautiful Blue Mountains of Australia in the 1920s.
With Kurinji Flowers you travel to the tea plantations of Southern India in the 1930s and 40s – the last years of British colonial rule.
Letters from a Patchwork Quilt carries you to the ugly industrial north of Victorian England and to St Louis, Missouri.
None of the characters go where they have to go by choice, and all face life-changing challenges. Can love make the difference? Will it stand the course?
Warning – once you start reading you will be up all night.
Roma Nova Box Set
If you haven’t read any of Alison Morton’s alternative history novels, I recommend you take a look at this incredible series of books.
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21st century Roma Nova – powered by the Roman mindset, ruled by women.
Praetorian Carina Mitela is courageous, fallible and sassy. She hefts a gladius or assault rifle as required. But can she defeat treachery, conspiracy and a dark nemesis and still keep an enduring love burning?
“My ancestors fought to hold this land sixteen hundred years ago. I’m not letting some throwback destroy it.”
Nearly a thousand pages of action adventure and alternative history thrills in three books with over 150 five star reviews on Amazon between them.
Triskele Box Set
If you are after a selection of genres, but want to read books that still take you somewhere new, The Triskele Box Set is for you. [image error][image error]A collection of seven wonderful novels with mystery, literary and historical fiction from Triskele Books is packaged together for your enjoyment.
The box set includes:
Crimson Shore by Gillian Hamer.
Rats by Jane Hicks.
Behind Closed Doors by JJ Marsh
Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat.
Delirium: The Rimbaud Delusion by Barbara Scott-Emmett.
The Rise of Zenobia by JD Smith.
Ghost Town by Catriona Troth.
All these writers have mad craft skills, so this is a lot of readerly bang for the buck!
The Bone Angel Trilogy Boxset: French Historical Family Life Saga
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Liza Perrat writes excellent historical fiction. The Bone Angel Trilogy has three standalone French village stories spanning six hundred years. Three midwife-healer women all linked by the same bone angel talisman. Explore their tragedies and triumphs during the French Revolution (Spirit of Lost Angels), WW2 Nazi-occupied France (Wolfsangel) and the 1348 Black Plague (Blood Rose Angel).
Steeped in French history with vivid, resourceful characters, this trilogy transports us through the past, leaving us feeling that no matter what we are confronted with across time, the human spirit endures.
The Nordic Heart Box Set
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Lastly, I couldn’t have a post about box sets without mentioning my own new collection of novels from The Nordic Heart Series.
This was love. The stuff she’d read about in books since she was a teenager.
Peter is a British Navy Officer, in love with his career. Kaisa is a Finnish student, engaged to be married to someone else.
They meet under the sparkling chandeliers of the British Embassy in Helsinki.
All the four novels of this bittersweet love story between the Finnish student, Kaisa, and dashing British Navy Officer, Peter, are included in the collection.
The Box Set Includes:
The English Heart: Can their love go the distance?
The Faithful Heart: Is there a happy ever after?
The Good Heart: Can they love again?
The True Heart: Can love conquer all?
If you enjoy Nordic fiction, or like books by Jojo Moyes and Liane Moriarty, you’ll love this stylish romance series spanning ten years and three countries: Finland, Scotland and England.
I hope my recommendations help you escape the World Cup. Leave those football fans to their ball games and dive into the wonderful and satisfying world of boxset fiction instead!
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Happy reading!
The post Hate the Football World Cup? Escape to the Wonderful World of Box Sets Instead! appeared first on Helena Halme Author.
May 30, 2018
The Nordic Heart Box Set in Paperback
Yes, it will soon be here, the paperback copy of The Nordic Heart Box Set!
With a new cover by my wonderful and talented designer, Jessica Bell, the box set has 730 pages with the four novels: The English Heart, The Faithful Heart, The Good Heart and The True Heart all printed between one set of covers. Just to remind you, if you haven’t read the books, here are the blurbs for all the four novels:
THE ENGLISH HEART
When Kaisa, a young Finnish student is invited to the British Embassy cocktail party in Helsinki to celebrate a Royal Navy visit to Finland, she’s not looking for romance. Her future has been carefully planned. She’s to finish her studies and marry her respectable, reliable fiancé. Enter dashing Navy Officer Peter. Kaisa falls head over heels in love and the two embark on a long-distance relationship. But at the height of the Cold War, while the Englishman chases Russian submarines, Kaisa is stuck in Finland, a country friendly with the Soviet Union.
Can their love go the distance?
THE FAITHFUL HEART
Newly married to her dreamy Navy Officer husband, Kaisa’s happiness is shattered when she discovers her hard-fought degree from Finland is less than useless in Britain. She’s suddenly faced with a lonely life in the shadows of Peter’s brilliant career, which takes him away to sea, unreachable during his long submarine patrols. Enter rich, charming and clever Duncan, who seems to have all the answers to Kaisa’s problems.
Can their love stay on course?
THE GOOD HEART
Kaisa knows she’s to blame. It’s her fault the relationship with the handsome Englishman, Navy Officer Peter, has ended. What can she do but move back to her native Finland? But sleeping on her sister’s sofa bed thousands of miles away from her beloved Peter won’t bring him back, so when Kaisa is offered a job in London she jumps at the chance.
Peter is not sorry. He’s angry. Angry at everything and everybody. He’s about to lose the one thing that means most to him: his Navy career. All because he was stupid enough to fall in love.
Can they love each other again?
THE TRUE HEART
London 1990. When Kaisa suffers a third miscarriage, her submarine officer husband Peter is devastated. Kaisa, who’s chosen a job with the BBC World Service over the traditional life of a Navy Wife on a marriage patch in Scotland, feels guilty. Has living apart from her husband, to pursue a demanding career, contributed to her inability to keep hold of a baby? But childlessness pales into insignificance when her old friend Rose tells Kaisa about a former lover’s serious illness. The consequences of Duncan’s condition could be devastating for Kaisa and Peter’s future.
And then life takes another heart-breaking twist …
Can love conquer all?
The first ever proof copy of The Nordic Heart Box Set arrived today, and I can tell you that I was incredibly excited when I opened the parcel. Go to my Facebook page here to see exactly how excited I was.
I didn’t imagine I’d ever turn this box set into a paperback book, but so many readers have asked if there is to be a physical copy of the book, and so I decided to have one made. Now, holding the tome in my sticky mitts, I’m so glad I did! It’s actually not as huge as I imagined – quite easy to pack for a holiday, for example, or give away as a present (wink, wink).
The Nordic Heart Box Set is out 2 June 2018
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If you have already read all the books in the series, you may be interested in exclusive, unpublished bonus series from the series. Find out more here.
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May 10, 2018
Will You Be Watching The Bridge?
It seems that I’ve been looking forward to watching the last series of The Bridge for ages now. The Englishman and I saw the first episode of this dark Nordic Noir TV series with the troubled female detective, Saga Noren, when it was aired in Sweden on New Year’s Day. I’ve since been trying hard to avoid any spoilers online from my friends who’ve seen the whole of the series already. Because I can remember every detail of what happened, and of course, there was a cliff-hanger, which I’ve had to live with for over four months!
The Bridge Is A Worldwide Hit
The Bridge has followed in the footsteps of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series, Wallander and The Killing, all of which have had millions of viewers worldwide. The Bridge, like The Killing and Wallander, has been sold to hundreds of countries and has also had its international remakes (The Tunnel in the UK).
In The Bridge the star of the show is Saga Noren, a talented Swedish detective who is socially awkward, to say the least. She has Asperger’s syndrome and consequently doesn’t act in a ‘normal’ way. She’s the kind of character who talks about sex as if it’s the same as eating a sandwich, or treats people she has to interview as if they were specimens of humanity, rather than victims of crime, or grieving relatives. Her Danish male counterpart is almost equally troubled, something which makes the dynamic between the two characters co-operating across country borders even more interesting.
The fact that a Nordic Noir TV series is a worldwide hit is nothing new, of course. For some reason, which no-one can really explain, international audiences cannot get enough of these bleak, violent stories of crime and death.
What Makes Nordic Noir So Popular?
It’s wholly natural that I should be more than slightly obsessed with Nordic Noir, but why is the genre such a worldwide hit? Many people have written about why Nordic Noir remains one of the most popular genres on TV and books, but no-one seems to be able to pinpoint why.
I remember reading an article in The Times years ago when Stieg Larsson’s books were taking the world by storm. The analysis was simply put, ‘Blood looks brighter on snow.’ This headline has since been used many times to describe the popularity of the genre. It has even had its fair share of book titles. (See Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo).[image error]
It’s true that the settings of these crime thrillers play an important part in the stories. It’s often dark, the ground is covered in inhospitable snow and ice, or it’s rainy and miserable. (Have you ever seen a Nordic Noir drama set on a summer’s day by a lake?). In The Bridge, the Öresundsbron is integral to the plot, as it connects Sweden with Denmark and is usually the location of the initial murder.
Many people define Nordic Noir as a genre where the setting is effectively another character. It may be true, but I think this analysis is too simplistic.
Grounded Drama With Complex Characters
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It’s not all about the setting. Stieg Larsson’s books were so popular because readers were not used to seeing the seedy and violent underbelly of a seemingly clean, rich welfare society like Sweden. Nordic countries regularly top happiness charts, their educational systems produce healthy, well-balanced individuals. The view elsewhere is that in Scandinavia there are no poor, homeless or socially disadvantaged people. It’s a fair, equal society that everyone else should aspire to.
When stories emerge showing that there’s filth and grime underneath all that ABBA happiness, IKEA efficiency and hygge cosiness, the rest of the world sits up and takes notice.
Whatsmore, the books and the TV series include complex characters, who invite empathy without following the rules or even being likeable. Think of the dropout genius Lisbeth Salander, the abrasive Sarah Lund or the socially inept Saga Noren. Plus all these brilliant, feisty characters are women.
Too Formulaic?
Like any popular genre, Nordic Noir has had its failures. The TV series that have followed The Killing are not all as brilliant. To be honest, I didn’t really get on with the follow-up to the first series of The Killing either. There were too many scenes with the famous jumper, flashlight and a dark cellar with a victim tied to a chair over plastic sheeting. But other better Nordic Noir dramas have followed, such as The Bridge, which is in its 4th (and final) season, and no doubt there will be another huge hit coming in its wake. How long can this continue?
Long Live Nordic Noir
If I had a penny each time professionals in the publishing and film industries tell me that Nordic Noir is over, I’d be a rich woman. But in spite of all talk of the genre being past its sell-by date, another new series, be it in books, or in TV emerges.
I personally think it’s wonderful that stories from my home are constantly on TV and popular in books. I may sometimes get a little frustrated when people think Noir is the only genre in Scandinavia, but since I am a large consumer of the genre, I cannot be too upset about it.
So, I for one will be watching The Bridge at the edge of my seat when it airs this weekend on BBC 2.
Will you be joining me?
‘The Bridge’ starts on BBC2 on Friday 11 May at 9pm, all previous series are available on iPlayer now.
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April 26, 2018
Helena’s Best Reads: The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto
The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto, published in the UK by Orenda Books, is a Nordic Noir tale of immigration, drugs and unexplained deaths set in a coastal city in Finland.
The Plot
Anna Fekete, a young police detective hailing from Eastern Europe, is called to a case of a fatal car accident, seemingly caused by a Hungarian au pair. At the same time, a young illegal immigrant from Pakistan, Sammy, is running from the police, fearful that he’ll be sent back to a certain death. His only refuge is drugs, but his addiction gets him involved in the city’s murky underbelly and violent gangs.
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When two elderly residents go missing from the same block of flats where Sammy’s small-time dealer is found dead, the young Pakistani boy is arrested, suspected of involvement with the drug dealer’s demise and a connection to the gangs.
The second detective in charge of the investigation, Esko, believes the removal of all immigrants from Finland will solve the city’s increasing problem with international gangs, which bring in new types of illegal activities and violence. Anna, however, has an opposing point of view. She herself is an immigrant to Finland. Anna and her alcoholic brother came over from the former Yoguslavia a few years earlier and because of her displacement, she feels a strong affinity with the helpless Sammy, as well as with the young Hungarian woman involved in the disappearance of one of the elderly residents.
Believable Story and Characters
Kati Hiekkapelto’s storyline and characters in The Defenceless are believable and the story is interesting and completely addictive. What’s more, the ending is wholly satisfactory, without being obvious or too neatly crafted. I only got a slight whiff of who might be behind the killings right towards the end of the book. I’m now totally addicted to reading more Anna Fekete books.
Excellent Translation
As a former translator, I also recognize the brilliance of the transcript by David Hackston. Turning foreign language fiction into English is no mean feat. There aren’t enough Finnish books being translated (partly due to a lack of translators), a situation which The Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI) works tirelessly to correct. Each year FILI awards approximately 600,000 Euros in translation and printing grants to more than 300 different projects. They also run courses and seminars for translators. To find out more, click here.
There Are Four Kati Hiekkapelto Novels
But back to Kati Hiekapelto’s novel. I’d recommend The Defenceless to anyone who likes character-led Nordic Noir crime novels without eye-watering violence. There’s plenty of intrigue and tension, but no torture scenes of people being tied to chairs placed over plastic sheeting in remote locations. Luckily, there are two further Anna Fekete books to enjoy in English. The Hummingbird and The Exiled are both out now. I also hope that Hiekkapelto’s latest novel with the determined female detective, Hiillos (Embers), which will be out in Finnish in September 2018, is going to have its English language version soon too.
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April 5, 2018
The London Book Fair 2018
I’m really looking forward to the London Book Fair, the annual showcase for publishers from all over the world. Many international and domestic publishing deals are completed in London, which is why it’s such a big event for the British publishing industry.
Authors at London Book Fair (LBF)
I’ve been going to London for more than ten years. In the beginning, when I was still looking for a literary agent and a traditional publishing contract, I took part in seminars aimed at unpublished writers, organised outside the Fair proper. In those days, attending the actual London Book Fair was a lonely pursuit; as an aspiring author, I felt like an outsider at an event for the industry I was an integral part of. Why were authors so ignored, I wondered. What, I asked myself, would all these people working in publishing do without us authors – even, and particularly, the aspiring ones?
The Alliance of Independent Authors
I didn’t really feel at home at the Fair until I witnessed the inaugural meeting of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) in 2012. Suddenly there was an organisation, filled with authors like me, who’d also taken the plunge and self-published their books with Amazon KDP. Authors who wanted to find readers for their work themselves, rather than rely on traditional gatekeepers, with their individual tastes, to validate their worth. These were the first author/entrepreneurs, headed by Orna Ross, who self-published their books and earned their royalties direct from distributors without the help of publishers or literary agents.
The Changing Face of Publishing
The world of publishing has changed a lot since those early, heady days of self-publishing. The traditional and indie worlds are getting closer and closer together, with both parts of the industry learning from each other at events like The London Book Fair.
Today indie authors, or rather, author-publishers, as well as aspiring authors, attend London to network, learn more about the industry and to sell rights to their own works – or find out how to get a traditional agent and publishing deal.
Author Events at LBF
There are several seminars at the London Book Fair for authors, sponsored by the self-publish platforms like Amazon, IngramSpark and Kobo. These are usually held at the Author HQ (stand 1F60). There’s even a Dragon’s Den type of event called Write Stuff where authors pitch their ideas live to agents.
This year ALLi also has its own stand (1E40) where there are one-to-one consultations and book giveaways. For those who are not able to attend the Fair, ALLi runs twice yearly Self-Publishing Advice Conferences online.
Party, Party!
If you are an author who is planning to attend the LBF, don’t forget it’s not all about serious work. There are lots and lots of parties too! What’s more, it’s easy to find them. Just look out for groups of people standing around holding paper cups after the main business of the day has been completed. Join them and network – some of my best contacts have been made during one of these drinks parties.
One party I will be attending is on Wednesday 11th when Head & Heart book publishing celebrate its birthday at 5pm. You are most welcome to come along! See below for details.
Want to Write and Publish a Book?
If you are at the London Book Fair and would like to meet up to discuss a book project with me, let me know. I have a few spots left and would love to find out how I could help you to get that project off the page and into print! Comment on this post or find more about my mentoring programme here .
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April 3, 2018
Goodreads Giveaway!
My latest novel, The True Heart, is now on a Goodreads Giveaway.
The True Heart, the dramatic conclusion to The Nordic Heart series is the story of Kaisa and Peter, whose tumultious, long-distance love story captures the essence of romantic love, family relationships, and friendship. It’s a brilliant evocation of times and places, pulling you from Soviet dominated Finland in the late 1970s to London in the 80s and 90s.
It’s 1990 and Kaisa is now living in London, happy in her prestigious job at the BBC and her Notting Hill home together with Navy Officer Peter – when he’s not away at sea. The only blot on the horizon apart from constantly missing her submariner husband is her inability to keep hold of a baby.
When Kaisa suffers a third miscarriage, she thinks her world is collapsing, but worse is to come. Her former friend and lover is seriously ill, something which could wreck Kaisa and Peter’s future.
And then life takes another heartbreaking twist …
Heart-stopping, romantic and complex, The True Heart follows Kaisa as she tries to deal with the consequences of her past actions and overcome a devastating tragedy to find true love. This, the fourth novel in The Nordic Heart series can also be read as a standalone book.
You can win one of 100 copies of the ebook version in the GoodReads Giveaway (for readers inthe US only, sorry) , so pop over to the site now (if you’re in the US) and enter the competition!
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The True Heart
by Helena Halme
Giveaway ends April 11, 2018.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
The Giveaway ends 11 April, so hurry and enter today!
The post Goodreads Giveaway! appeared first on Helena Halme Author.
March 30, 2018
My British Citizenship Saga Continues ….
I’ve written here before about how I had to apply for British citizenship in order to guarantee that, after Brexit, I am able to remain in Britain, which has been my home for the past 34 years, and where my British grandchild, children, and husband all live.
Glad to Be British
Although I resented having to do this because I strongly disagree with the whole Brexit process, and it took a lot of time, effort, and money (it cost me upwards £2,000), I was relieved and happy to finally be granted my naturalisation papers last November during a pompous ceremony in Islington Town Hall, here in North London. I celebrated the event with my family, and it felt as if a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. (See, I’m smiling!)
Getting a British Passport Will Be Easy, Right?
After having been naturalised as a British citizen I thought getting a passport would be easy. I was given an option to apply for a passport at the same time as submitting my citizenship application, but I didn’t have enough passport photos with me when the kind lady at Islington Town Council helped me with the complex procedure. The photos had to be the same as the one on the application, which was countersigned by a professional person (not a member of my family, and someone who has known me for a period of time), so I couldn’t even nip out to a local Boots to get more photos done. So I let it be, not wishing to delay matters.
Why Do I Need a British Passport Anyway?
I haven’t applied for a British passport yet because frankly, I don’t need it. I have my Finnish passport for travel, and as a matter of fact, it is a better travel document than the British one (we Finns don’t need a visa to enter Turkey for example). So why apply for it now? Well, it started with my driving license. It’s run out. I don’t drive much now we live in London, so I was shocked when using it to prove my ID at the Post Office the clerk said it would run out the next day. I asked for the forms but he informed me it’d be quicker to do it online.
That’s where the snag occurred. You can’t apply for a driving license online if you don’t have a British passport. OK, I thought, I’ll apply for my British passport now then. It looks like the country is speeding head first, out of pure stubbornness, into the economic and political disaster that is Brexit. I might as well get the passport sorted out so that I don’t have to queue up at the UK border and answer questions about the reason I’m coming into the (my home) country.
The Englishman had just renewed his passport and he did it with the one-week fast track service, which turned out to be painless and very efficient. I went online and to my horror found out that you can’t use the faster online service if you’re applying for your first British passport. What’s more, in order to apply for the passport, I need to send in my current, valid, Finnish passport. The application process would take 6 weeks, during which time I wouldn’t be able to travel.
Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but unfortunately, my father is severely ill and I need to be able to travel to Finland at short notice.
They Still Don’t Know Who I Am?
I decided to phone the Passport Office to ask if I was really reading the instructions correctly. ‘Yes,’ they told me,
Because you are applying for your first British passport we need to make sure you are who you say you are.
I would be called in for an interview ‘at a local council office’. I wasn’t to worry about having to travel far, the adviser told me, and I held my tongue about the time this would take (again) and how the hell didn’t they know who I was after all the palava I went through to get the naturalisation document in the first place.
This is after I’d submitted all the information to prove that I have lived in the UK over the past 34 years (a large pile of documents as you might imagine) to gain permanent residence in the UK.
And after I’d submitted another pile of different documents and photographs (countersigned by a professional person not a member of my family, and who has known me for a period of time, naturally).
And after I’d taken part in a citizenship ceremony and sworn allegiance to the Queen, sang ‘God Save the Queen’ and got my naturalisation certificate.
While on the phone, it occurred to me that I could apply for a Finnish ID with which I could travel within the European Union countries. I asked if the passport office would need to have this document too if I had one, and they told me that yes, during the interview, the examiner might wish me to surrender this document too. The British passport office adviser told me to contact my country’s embassy first before I applied for a British passport. She emphasised that I should not apply before speaking to ‘Your Embassy’ as she put it, and it made me think that she thought perhaps Finland didn’t allow dual citizenship. This was changed in 2003, but I wouldn’t put it past the British Passport Office to still have old information on their records.
British Authorities Contravene EU Legislation – What a Surprise
When I spoke to the Finnish Embassy, they advised me that the British authorities had no right to remove a current travel document from an EU citizen (including their own citizens), because according to EU legislation, EU citizens should have free movement rights across the EU at all times.
Whatsmore, the Finnish Consular advised me in no uncertain terms that the British authorities had NO RIGHT to ask a citizen to surrender another country’s ID documentation to them.
It doesn’t surprise me that the British authorities contravene EU legislation, but it does make me laugh (in a bitter, mad-woman kind of way). During and after the Brexit vote, the leave campaigners and voters kept complaining about all the EU legislation Britain needs to follow. There was – and still is – a lot of talk of British Sovereignty and how we will regain it after Brexit. Yet, there have been many legal proceedings going on against the Brits in Brussels because they are breaking the EU rules (one being the insistence that some EU citizens applying for residency have to have private medical insurance). And now it appears that the whole passport application process is breaking a fundamental piece of EU legislation. In an area which was – and is – a hot topic in the Brexit discussion: immigration.
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
The lady at the Finnish Embassy asked me the question I have been battling with too.
Why do you want to apply for a British passport until you absolutely have to? You have your British citizenship, it isn’t going anywhere.
I had to agree with her. Why give the British government any more of my hard-earned money? Although I am pessimistic about Brexit; I think it will happen now, it’s still prudent to wait and see. You never know, somebody very wise might raise their head above the parapet and get the whole thing called off.
As for me, I am now beyond anger. Nothing about this country, its ability to shoot itself in the foot, or its jingoistic practices surprises me anymore. I’m just sad. Sad that I have made my life here when I could have lived successfully and happily in Finland or Sweden, or even France (I know, steady on, girl). Sad, that the country and the people I fell in love with seem to have been trampled under a near-fascist nationalistic fervour. I am with the Stronger in Europe demonstrators that never let up outside the parliament in Westminster. Whatever the weather they are there, protesting for membership of the European Union and for sanity and civility to return to the British shores once more.
Rant over.
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March 29, 2018
Helena’s Best Reads: My Name Is Leon by Kit de Wall
‘My Name is Leon’ by Kit de Waal is a story of a lonely little boy lost in the labyrinth of the grown-up world that includes foster parents, social workers, and allotment gardeners in 1980s London. Leon’s absent dad is from Antigua, and his single mother struggles to look after Leon after she gives birth to a new baby by another, married, white man.
By the age of nine, Leon has already been caring for his mother and his baby brother Jake, who he adores. But as his mother’s mental health deteriorates, Leon and his brother are taken into care and Leon is passed from one foster parent to another.
While reading this novel I kept thinking of ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue. Just as in ‘Room’ the story in ‘My Name Is Leon’ is told from a child’s point of view, making the adult world seem much more confusing and terrifying for the reader. The story here isn’t quite as awful as that of Jack in ‘Room’, but Leon, too, has huge issues to deal with.
Sad as Leon’s situation might be, this isn’t a story without humor.
Leon’s observations of the grown-ups around him are frighteningly accurate and at times, laugh-out-loud hilarious. None of the people Leon meets are wholly bad; the one life-affirming feature of this novel is the complexity of its characters. Both adults and children are able to move on by losing their prejudices, improving their behavior and ultimately their lives for the better.
I also loved the descriptions of 1980s London in ‘My Name Is Leon’: there are riots and planning meetings to celebrate the Royal Wedding between Prince Charles and Diana, the most anticipated national party of the decade. The author has very cleverly intertwined these historical events into the story, which mirror perfectly the internal disorder in Leon’s mind. On one hand, Leon knows he’s safe but on the other, without understanding it, he is grieving the loss of his mother and brother, a feeling that makes him rebel against everything and everybody.
If you loved ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue, you’ll adore this heartfelt story of a small boy’s struggle to find his identity and come to terms with his new life.
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March 23, 2018
Can We Only Do Nordic Noir?
Murder Is a National Sport
Nordic Noir became popular in Scandinavia already in the 1960s, in the era of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, the authors of the popular Martin Beck series, but it was really Stieg Larsson and his Millennium series that brought the genre into international attention.
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This was followed by The Killing, a Danish police procedural TV series that was such a massive success that an American version was made of the programme. The original Danish series opened the floodgates for a stream of Nordic TV programmes, books, and films in the genre. Producing drama where human beings are killed and tortured in dark spaces, or over plastic sheeting in a deserted warehouse, with the police in sparsely furnished offices trying to catch the killer while battling with their own personal demons, has become a national sport for the Nordic countries.It’s Not All Blood and Gore in The Nordic Countries
You could say that everything is a bit darker in the Nordic countries. I’ve been told that even my own Nordic Heart romance series has some of this darker moodiness to it.
But, but …
There is so much more to the Scandinavian art world than Nordic Noir. There are family dramas, comedy, and even dystopian fairy tales where no bodies are found under suspension bridges.
Nordic Comedy
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My favorite Nordic comedy is a Swedish TV series called Solsidan which is a parody of the chattering Swedish upper classes. A Finnish comedian, Ismo Leikola was voted the Funniest Man in the World in 2014, and I’ve just been watching a series of sketches with Tanhupallo, a female comedian whose act of an opinionated five-year-old plump girl with a love of ballet, vivid imagination and with quarrelling parents, is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in ages. (In Finnish only, sorry).Nordic Family Drama
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Tales from Moomin Valley
by Tove Jansson is a perfect example of Nordic family drama. The acute observations in these cartoon series has stood the test of time. In a recent article in the Britsh newspaper
The Guardian
, Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of the late author Terry Pratchett said that Tove Jansson was her father’s inspiration for becoming an author. She grew up with the Moomin values such as friendship, love, tolerance, and empathy, and added,
The Moomins should be required reading for anyone seeking to enter western politics
There are several other, new Nordic stories on the human condition such as The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared, or A Man Called Ove, as well as stories of family rifts such as The Legacy. Love, loss, melancholy are in abundance here, but, notably, there’s no blood or gore.
Nordic Romance, Dystopian Fairy Tales, and Political Drama
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My own books aside, romance is a well-honed genre in Finland. The tales told in the country’s popular Tango songs are often about unrequited love, of tragic romance, but it’s the deep feelings felt between adults that drive these songs.In the other Nordic countries too, romance is well represented. Even Tove Jansson’s last fiction title, Fair Play is a love story of sorts, and Ibsen’s plays (as well as Strindberg’s) are all about love. Looking at modern works, the film, The Royal Affair , has a deeply romantic theme. It tells the tragic tale of an 18th-century Danish queen’s love affair with her physicist. A newer film, Tom of Finland, on the other hand, brings to light the life and work of artist Touko Valio Laaksonen (aka Tom of Finland), one of the most influential and celebrated figures of twentieth-century gay culture.
The latest Nordic fiction title I recommend on this blog was a collection of modern dystopian fairy tales, The Last Train to Helsingor, while the political TV drama Borgen, has been seen by millions of people.
AS you can see, the examples of genres, other than Nordic Noir, coming out of these countries are too many to site here.
So why does it seem to be that when you search for Nordic fiction or drama, all you find is Nordic Noir?
It’s all about marketing
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The trouble here, of course, is marketing. Because of the fantastic popularity of ‘blood on snow’ Nordic Noir, every book, film or TV series with any kind of connection to Scandinavia wants to be put into that category. I remember when I was working in a bookshop and found Sofi Oksanen’s disturbing tale of human trafficking, Purge, classed as a Nordic Noir mystery, I was horrified. This is novel of huge literary merit, with a bucketful of international prizes to its name and it’s sold as a murder mystery? It was only later when I realized it was the book’s English-language publishers who had classified the books as Nordic Noir to increase its sales.It seems prestigious literary prizes have nothing on being placed on a bookshops shelf between Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo.
All smoke and mirrors?
It is a fact universally acknowledged, of course, that literary fiction doesn’t sell on the English-language market, and translated fiction even less so. It, therefore, makes sense for publishers, producers, and authors to use the huge popularity of the Nordic Noir genre to get some much-needed visibility to all art coming from the Nordic countries. It’s a no-brainer and I’m probably being a stickler for details when I’m annoyed that every book, film or TV series coming out of the Nordic countries is labeled with the title ‘Noir’.
What do you think? Do you mind how books are classified? In this age of digital marketing where keywords and categories make such a difference to a product’s visibility, is it OK to effectively mis-sell a product?
Comment below to start the conversation going!
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March 8, 2018
Helena’s Best Reads: The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper
This month’s best read is a book about an author that I absolutely adored and was fascinated by when growing up. Louisa May Alcott wrote a series of books loosely based on her life, and in The Other Alcott, Elise Hooper conjures the fascinating, untold story of May Alcott—Louisa’s youngest sister and an artist in her own right.
Perfect for fans of ‘Little Women’
The author explains her inspiration for writing the book about Louisa’s little sister, May Alcott.
We all know the story of the March sisters, heroines of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. But while everyone cheers on Jo March, based on Louisa herself, Amy March is often the least favorite sister. Now, it’s time to learn the truth about the real “Amy”, Louisa’s sister, May.
I was immediately intrigued by this book and its promise to part the virtual curtain on this famous author’s life. I read Little Women in my pre-teens and felt a real affinity to Amy. Was she really as spoilt, selfish and vain as she appeared to be in the books?
May was a pioneering female artist
Instead of that egocentric little girl of Little Women, the real May Alcott was an ambitious artist. The book is set in the late 1880’s, at the time when it was unusual for a woman to be an artist, or even be able to study painting, let alone attempt to make a living from her paintings. Much of the book is taken up with May’s struggle to be accepted into the art circles or to be allowed to study art as easily as men can. Often, if she mentions her famous sister, doors are opened, something which May detests, especially as she often has to rely on her sister for financial assistance. But May struggles on, traveling to Europe to study and to pursue her dreams.
Friction between the two sisters
Louisa’ portrayal of May as Amy in Little Women, as well as the criticism her drawings in the first novel receive, are both initial causes of an early rift between the two sisters. When May, inspite of her early failures, decides to pursue a career as an artist, her determination in the face of adversity causes further friction between the sisters. You could say this conflict between the two sisters is the main theme of the book. The famous, successful, hard-working Louisa and her seemingly frivolous, comfort-loving sister May are poles apart in their view on how a young woman should lead her life. While Louisa and her books are read all over the world, May’s career as an artist faulters. Both sisters are equally ambitious in the pursuit of their art, but fail to see how similar they truly are.
Letters are revealing
The story is largely told in form of letters exchanged between the sisters, which adds to the sense that you are reading a true account of the lives of the famous sisters. Through the letters, we are also told about the deepening rift between them. Louisa feels she has devoted her life to providing for the family through her writing, while May believes her older sister’s authorship is driven by a wish to pursue her beloved form of art, very much in the same vein as she herself is trying to do. In The Other Alcott Louisa is portrayed as a rather harsh and judgemental character. She believes that, since May’s career as an artist is not equally successful in financial terms as her own, her sister’s place is at home, looking after her family, rather than in the pursuit of a selfish ambition.
Themes for International Women’s Day
The story of May’s struggle to be accepted as an artist, and her determination to pursue the life she wants for herself rather than the life those around her think she should lead, is a message all women still need to hear. Times are very different now; in the Western world at least, women can do almost anything they wish. However, there are still those who press us women to do what we ‘should’, act in a certain way, wear certain clothes, say – or not say – what we mean. It’s time to act more like May Alcott!
Credible, grown-up book about a popular author
I really enjoyed The Other Alcott and reading about May’s life. It’s always difficult to write about a hugely popular author or their books, but I believe Elise Hooper has created a credible, highly enjoyable, grown-up book for anyone who enjoyed – or even adored, like I did – Little Women. This novel manages to evoke the atmosphere of the original books by Louisa M Alcott while taking a modern look at the challenges women faced in the late 19th century.
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