Helena Halme's Blog, page 9
January 11, 2019
Writing Inspiration for The Island Affair
I am just in the middle of editing my forthcoming novel, The Island Affair, and I thought I’d let you have a sneak peek into my inspiration for the book.
Here I am with the Englishman on a small island-hopping ferry last year.The Island Affair (and the series to follow) is set in Åland. This is a group of islands situated in the Baltic off the coast of Sweden, but belong to Finland. Wikipedia describes the place like this:
The Åland Islands or Åland (Swedish: Åland, Finnish: Ahvenanmaa) is an archipelago province at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea belonging to Finland. It is autonomous, demilitarised and is the only monolingually Swedish-speaking region in Finland. It is the smallest region of Finland, constituting 0.49% of its land area and 0.50% of its population.
Åland comprises Fasta Åland on which 90% of the population resides and a further 6,500 skerries and islands to its east. Fasta Åland is separated from the coast of Sweden by 38 kilometres (24 mi) of open water to the west. In the east, the Åland archipelago is contiguous with the Finnish Archipelago Sea. Åland’s only land border is located on the uninhabited skerry of Märket, which it shares with Sweden.
Åland’s autonomous status means that those provincial powers normally exercised by representatives of the central Finnish government are largely exercised by its own government.
I’ve been going on holiday to the Åland Islands for years, or even decades! I’ve written several blogs about my escapades on the islands and my blogging history shows how at home I am in Åland. While I have been planning the plotlines and writing The Island Affair, these posts have been incredibly useful for inspiration. A good writing tip to any experienced or new author – start your research on your own blog.
December 20, 2018
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As well as wishing you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I’d like to start by thanking you for your support in 2018. It’s been a wonderful year where I have increased my readership and more than tripled my book sales! I’ve also been able to help a lot of other authors to publish and market their books through my mentoring programme. Just today, I had a wonderful message from one of my mentees, thanking me for my help and telling me how much the sessions with me have helped her writing career. This message was just the best early Christmas present!
New Look For The Nordic Heart Series
I began 2018 with a new look and titles for The Nordic Heart series of books. These novels recount the bittersweet love story between Kaisa, a Finnish student and the English Royal Navy Officer, Peter. Last year, I noticed that people often didn’t know what the books were about. Some readers thought that since I was writing stories set in the Nordic countries, they must all fall in the category of Nordic Noir, but alas, this is not the case.
As you may imagine, changing the titles and covers for four books that had sold quite well since I published the first novel in 2012, was more than nervewracking. I ummed and ahhed about the change for months, but if the sales of the books in the series since the change are anything to go by, the rebranding was a roaring success. You can read more about the rebranding of The Nordic Heart Series here on the Alliance of Independent Authors blog.
The latest book in the series, The Christmas Heart, has been my most successful yet, so I am a happy bunny going into 2019 and a new series of books.
The Åland Islands
My next book is called The Island Affair. It’s a story of Alicia, a Finnish journalist, her British surgeon husband Liam, and a Swedish reporter called Patrick. (See a more detailed blurb below). This novel will be the first in a new series of books, all of which will be set in Åland, a group of self-governing islands situated in the Baltic between Finland and Sweden. I know the place well, because my mother and stepfather live there, and I’ve spent many a summer holiday, as well as Christmas, on the islands.
To be honest, I’ve been wanting to write about the small community of these islands before. The Swedish-speaking population of some 30,000 people live mainly on the largest of the islands, called Fasta Åland, but there are 6,500 more skerries in the archipelago to the East. The population doubles in the summer when ferries travelling between Finland and Sweden bring tourists to the capital, Mariehamn. They stop there to take advantage of its tax-free status, a special dispensation by the EU.
There’s been a certain amount of political turmoil on the Åland Islands too. The islands were militarily crucial in the Crimean War and during the First World War, the Russian Government turned the small islands into a submarine base. Then there was a dispute on whether the islands should belong to Finland or Sweden. This ended in 1921 with a League of Nations resolution which deemed the islands to be an autonomous part of Finland. If you were to ask the people living on the islands, whether they are Finnish or Swedish today, they’ll reply, ‘I am an Ålänning.’
The people on the islands seem to love and despise both Finns and Swedes in equal measure, almost like estranged members of their family. But the Russians, they seem to fear. There are often stories in the local press about Russian submarines being sighted in the waters just off the coast of Mariehamn, or the Russians secretly buying up property on the islands, or about the significance of a piece of land Putin owns in Åland. A few years ago, two Swedish rappers built a gay bar on this piece of land and were taken to court for trespassing. The charges were dropped in the end, but this incident shows how a ban on promoting gay values in Russia can affect people in Åland!
Image: Escape to SuomiThe Island Affair
You can see how a place like this brings out the creative juices in a writer?
I am just in the middle of the last bit of editing of the first novel in the series, The Island Affair, which will be out in March 2019. If you would like a quick sneak peek into the story, you can download an excerpt now. This does require you to sign up to my mailing list, but naturally, you can unsubscribe at any time.
This is a placeholder cover – I’ll reveal the new cover to my mailing list early January 2019Two broken hearts. One hot summer.
After the tragic loss of their 17-year-old son, journalist Alicia and surgeon Liam struggle to keep their marriage afloat. During their usual holiday to Åland, the Nordic island where Alicia grew up, the rift between the couple deepens and Liam leaves Alicia behind and heads back to London.
Enter tall, blonde Patrick, with the most piercing blue eyes Alicia has ever seen. When Patrick confides in Alicia about the near loss of his daughter and the breakdown of his marriage, Alicia is surprised to feel an affinity with the Swedish reporter. He’s the only person who understands Alicia.
When the body of a Romanian boy is discovered in the reefs not far from Alicia’s parent’s place, secrets held by people close to Alicia are brought to the surface which, surprisingly, give her a reason to live – and love again.
The Englishman FREE Promotion
Finally, I wanted to tell you about a promotion that I’m running over the festive period. The English Heart, the first book in The Nordic Heart series will be FREE from Tuesday, December 25 12:00 am PST to Saturday, December 29 11:59 PM PST. That’s 8am UK time 25th and 7.59pm on 29th December.
If you haven’t read this “breathtaking Nordic fiction novel with an undercurrent of romance”, here’s your chance.
December 13, 2018
A Nordic Christmas
There’s something magical about a Nordic Christmas. I would say that, wouldn’t I? But it’s true. With fresh snow underfoot and dark skies clear with stars, this time of year has an almost mythical quality to it. For us Scandinavians, December is the most important time of year. As well as Christmas, there are other important dates in this, the darkest of months. Finland gained its independence from Russia on 6th of the month and on 13th Swedes (and some Finns) celebrate Santa Lucia.
Santa Lucia
Santa Lucia is a festival of light which commemorates Saint Lucia of Syracuse. All over Sweden (and Finland), there are church services and processions. Lucia wears candles in her hair while others, clad in white gowns, move slowly behind her singing traditional songs. You don’t have to be religious (which I’m not) to take part; most schools put up an event for children and parents. Being chosen as Lucia is a dream come true for many a girl. (I was never Lucia, boo-hoo!)
I love this festival and have on a couple of occasions been invited to St Paul’s Cathedral here in London to celebrate the day. Today I will be going to a Lucia carol service at the Finnish Church in Rotherhithe, which I’m really looking forward to!
A Finnish Christmas
When I was growing up in Tampere, a town in central Finland, there was always snow on the ground in December. The Christmas lights of the Tammer rapids in the centre of town were a sight to behold. Our Christmas Eve visit to the church through the snowy, torch-lit path was enchanting. We were told elves kept an eye out for us children to make sure we were good. Walking along the dark, narrow pathway, I kept a keen eye for any red-hatted small creatures. After church, it was time to light the (real) candles on our tree and enjoy the Christmas Eve delights that my mother had spent days preparing.
Only after the meal did we get our presents. My father used to dress up as Father Christmas, carrying a huge sack filled with parcels over his shoulder. He wore his sheepskin coat inside out, a false beard and a red hat. He fooled me for years with his disguise. I could never understand why he needed to go and check on his car just as we were waiting for Father Christmas to arrive.
Below is a black and white picture of me with my sister, just before the arrival of Santa, judging by our excited smiles. I just adore this picture, especially the way my Big Sis is holding my hand and I have my (signature) lopsided smile on my face.
We do look a little like poor Christmas orphans, don’t we? I can still feel the scratchiness of those woolly tights.Finnish/Swedish Christmas Mashup
When, in the early 1970s, my family and I moved from Finland to the metropole that is Stockholm, we still celebrated Christmas with Finnish foods, although our father stopped dressing up as Father Christmas. We adopted some Swedish traditions such as observing the Santa Lucia Day and adding Lussebullar, Jansson’s Temptation, meatballs and Gravad Lax to our holiday menu.
On our return to Finland four years later, our Nordic Christmas, a mixture of Finnish and Swedish traditions, was firmly set into our family celebrations.
Nordic Navy Christmas
When I moved to Britain, I was determined not to give up on my own culture. On my first year here, I organised a Nordic Christmas Eve for the Royal Navy. Because my new husband was a junior officer onboard his new submarine, he was deemed suitable to be on duty over Christmas. Encouraged by him, I decided to bring a little seasonal Nordic cheer to the ship’s company. On Christmas Eve, I filled two tea urns with Glögg (Swedish mulled wine) and together with the hot, boozy drink, offered my home-baked gingerbread biscuits and Finnish Christmas Stars (puff pastry tarts with plum jam) to the twenty or so submariners in the wardroom at HMS Drake in Plymouth.
We even had a pared-down version of the Finnish/Swedish Christmas dinner together with the other duty officer and his wife in the mess afterwards. It was lovely to spend the evening with my Englishman, although it was sad to leave him to sleep in the wardroom while we wives drove home to our individual married quarters. Being a naval wife was a lonely life most of the time, and even though I knew Id’ see my husband on Boxing Day, I didn’t relish waking up alone on the first Christmas morning in a new country.
Traditions Are Important
Once we’d set the precedence, after that first Christmas together (or not), we followed the new tradition of having two Christmases: a Nordic one on Christmas Eve, and a British one on Christmas Day. When the children came along, passing on my own Christmas traditions became even more important. I hope that growing up with my native (and adopted) traditions gave them a sense of identity; a knowledge that they have Finnish blood running in their veins.
Now, of course, we have another addition to the family. Even though our little granddaughter is only one-quarter Finnish, I still feel that it’s important for her to know where (some of) her roots lie, so the Nordic Christmas tradition carries on.
I’m not sure the granddaughter was so very impressed with the Englishman as Father Christmas last year!A Confession
I love having my own traditions and encourage the (now grown-up) children to carry them on. However, over the years, the children have heard me say more than once that it’s time to drop ONE Christmas from our family celebrations. This happens every year now. Around the end of November, or early December, I begin the conversation with,
‘What if we went out to the pub on the 24th instead of having the usual Finnish Christmas Eve?’
The Englishman and the children exchange glances.
‘Don’t be fooled,’ says the Englishman. ‘She’s just testing us.’
‘Don’t worry, mum,’ says son, ‘We love our Finnish Christmas Eve.’
‘But there’s so much to do, to cook …’ I say but daughter interrupts, ‘We’ll help, we always do!’
And so it goes on, every year. Of course, I’m delighted that the traditions I’ve spent so many years trying to keep alive are now firmly set in our annual celebrations. It now seems the children – and the Englishman – find it difficult to live without them!
Do you have international Christmas traditions that you just have to celebrate?
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December 4, 2018
12 Books for Christmas
You can’t get away from it now – it’s December and time to start looking forward to the holidays! To that end, I’ve teamed up with 11 other authors to bring you 12 Christmas Books.
Too Early to Talk About Christmas?
I know I’ve been talking about Christmas for a while now – guilty as charged – mainly because for the first time ever, this year I’ve come out with a seasonal title, The Christmas Heart. The book was published late October and since then, I’ve been celebrating the new release with book readings, launch day offers and much more. Do I feel bad? No, actually I don’t! I love reading and Christmas, so bringing the two together is a perfect way to celebrate in my view. And the longer the festivities go on the better in my book (if you excuse the pun).
12 Days of Christmas in Books
Here are 12 gift books for all tastes – sweet, sharp, thrilling or downright dangerous. Twelve Days of Christmas in books, if you like. To find out more about these must-read titles for Christmas 2018, just click the images of the books below!
Murder in the Manger
A real baby in a church nativity play – what could possibly go wrong? Plenty of Christmas humour in this feel-good, festive cosy mystery by Debbie Young.
The Chase
Christmas in France. A roaring fire on a frosty night, a glass of wine, goodwill to all men. Except one. Get your Christmas chills with this haunting tale of secrets and betrayal by Lorna Ferguson.
Nici’s Christmas Tale
“A parable that speaks to the hearts of animal lovers around the world. One just wants to sit down with Nici as he shares his story in that cozy sheepfold while the cold winds rage outside on Christmas Eve!” 5* Award from Readers’ Favorite. Get this Amazon Number 1 New Release by Jean Gill today!
Into the Silent Sea
Dying for love? Clodagh Shepherd is. An idyllic coastal town where stalking has consequences and a shared past is never safely buried. Twisty, dark and with just the right amount of chill to keep you off balance, Into the Silent Sea is told in Claire Stibbe’s signature suspenseful style.
The Frozen River
A small Canadian town at Christmas. But not everyone feels the seasonal goodwill. Strained loyalties. Hopeless love. Frozen hearts. Deep resentments. New beginnings? There is so much to this book, romance, heartbreak, tragedy but also hope and endurance. If you haven’t read any of Clare Flynn’s historical romances yet, here’s your chance to discover this stylish story-teller. 
Bitter Like Orange Peel
Six women. One man. Seven secrets. One could ruin them all. “These people take dysfunctional to a whole new level.” 5-stars. Snap up Bitter Like Orange Peel by Jessica Bell for an alternative Christmas read!
Snow Angel [image error]
An ancient forest conceals a complex web of hidden loyalties and lethal ties. Angels protect friends. But destroy enemies. Beatrice Stubbs, the Miss Marplesque detective is back in the latest instalment of this addictive series of contemporary European mysteries by JJ Marsh. Start reading these books now before everyone else becomes obsessed with them!
Roma Nova Extra
Suppose Roma Nova, the last remnant of the old Roman Empire, had struggled through to the 21st century – a tough little country with tough, resourceful people? Feasting, games, drink, servants as masters – check. But *this* family Saturnalia there are quite a few surprises… Read on in Roma Nova Extra, 8 stories from a 21st century Rome by Alison Morton.
The Christmas Heart
They weren’t looking for love, but when Kaisa meets Tom on a holiday to the beautiful snow-capped Swedish Alps, sparks fly. Get this new seasonal feel-good romance for just 99¢/p today! (Offer ends 12 December 218).
The Swooping Magpie
Shocked by the Magdalene Laundries scandal? Discover Australia’s own adoption scandal. For fans of Philomena, by Martin Sixsmith, this heartbreaking drama of lost innocence and deceit by Liza Perrat is now just 99c/p on a New Release PROMO!
The Chosen Man
Rome 1635. As Flanders braces for another long year of war, a Spanish count presents the Vatican with a means of disrupting the Dutch rebels’ booming economy. His plan is brilliant. They just need the right man to implement it. Cuddle up with a charismatic rogue, a conspiracy & a feisty heroine by J G Harlond this Christmas! 
I Stopped Time [image error]
A deathbed confession, a collection of black and white photographs, a disgraced politician living in retirement in Surrey and the young woman who befriends him. This expertly crafted novel by award-winning author Jane Davis is now just 99c/p in a limited time promotion!
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November 22, 2018
No Snow in Lapland
There’s no snow in Lapland, a state of affairs which is terrible for the tourist industry. It doesn’t bode well for the future of our globe, either.
The Press Loves Bad News
The lack of snow in Lapland has been picked up by newspapers and news channels alike. CNN reports a ‘Festive Flop’, while The Guardian gives a list of alternative things to do if you’re stuck in Lapland without snow this Christmas. You could visit Lordi Square, a small area in Rovaniemi in Finland, renamed in tribute to the band that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Or you could visit a tattoo parlour and permanently mark your body with, “Let’s just go to France next year”, suggests the British newspaper.
Hmm, joking aside, I’d be more than annoyed, to put it mildly, (no pun intended) if I’d booked a family holiday to Lapland and was faced with a Black Christmas. This is what us Nordics call a snowless Christmas. Sounds pretty grim, eh?
Visit Finland Puts Positive Spin on Snowless Santa Season
All this negative press could cause a drop in winter tourism in Lapland, worth €700m, with some 100,000 visitors every Santa Season. The lack of snow has also prompted Visit Finland to issue a press release:
Following an unseasonably hot summer and autumn in Finland, Lapland is yet to see the heavy snowfall which would traditionally have fallen by now. Visitors travelling to Northern Finland now will nonetheless be able to explore Finland’s beautiful landscapes with an array of different activities, from hiking and mountain biking to kayaking and river rafting as well as searching for the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights ed.).
In Rovaniemi, families can discover Santa’s hut as he listens to children’s Christmas wishes and entertains by singing carols. Children can join the elves in the magical world of Santa Park, be part of the charming Elf school, taste the delicious gingerbread cooking in Mrs Gingerbread’s Kitchen, and take an enchanting ride on the Magic Train.
We have no doubt the snow is on its way and look forward to welcoming visitors from around the world as usual throughout the winter season.
No Snow by 2050?
I sincerely hope there will soon be a massive snowfall in Lapland. It is very unusual, however, not to have at least a few centimetres of snow around the Arctic Circle by now.
As you may know, I love snow and snowsports and was horrified when I read an article in The Times last month on how climate change is affecting snowfall all around the world. Experts in environmental studies claim that there will be no snow by 2050. There will be severe snow storms, but the snow will melt almost as soon as it hits the ground. Luckily, I won’t be alive to experience a snowless world, by my children and grandchild will be. It’s a depressing thought. The evidence of climate change is all around us, yet the leaders of this world are doing too little to halt its progress.
A Book About Snow
Giles Whittel, who wrote the aforementioned article in The Times has also published a book called Snow: A Biography. I haven’t bought it yet, but if the article is anything to go by, this should be an interesting read to anyone who loves the winter and snow. This book will definitely be on my wish list for Santa.
It comes from heaven. It changes everything. It creates an alternative reality and brings on irrational behaviour in humans. But unlike most religions, snow has never had a bible, until now.
Snow is the next best thing to a white Christmas, an anthropology and travelogue for everyone from ski addicts to the millions of people who have never even seen it.
Meanwhile, in the fictional world of The Christmas Heart, Tom and Kaisa are knee-deep in the white stuff. I’m so glad that when I was doing my research for the book last January, Åre ski resort in Sweden was blessed with both beautiful fresh snow and sunny weather.
November 13, 2018
All my books are available for Kindle
There’s something going on at Amazon. Over the weekend it became apparent that most KDP ebooks are unavailable to purchase for international readers who use the US Kindle Store. So I just wanted to reassure you that all of my books have been published for Kindle.
What’s going on?
It seems that Amazon has decided for some reason, best known to itself, that Kindle books are available only in the country-specific stores. So for example, if you live in Finland or Sweden, you can NOW only buy my books via Amazon.com (I hope!). Previously, they’d be available in any stores, be it Amazon.co.uk (Britain) Amazon.de (Germany) or Amazon.fr (France). Nobody seems to know why the Amazon policy has changed, or whether this is a glitch in the system. There has been no notification either to Amazon customers, or us authors who publish and get most of their book sales and income from Amazon, that there is a change in availability.
It’s also strange that not all of the Kindle books have been affected; only three of my titles so far are ‘not available to buy’ on Amazon.com when I log on from the UK.
If you are a fellow author or interested in this issue, do read this excellent post by David Gaughran, otherwise, do use the links below to access my titles.
Please let me know if you have any problems accessing my books
This is by no means an ideal situation for any author, but particularly not for one who’s new Christmas book has just been published, and is currently on a ten-day blog tour. We are also coming up to the busiest book selling period of the year, so to have one’s books ‘unavailable to buy’ or just not even visible on Amazon.com, could make any writer come up in a cold sweat all over. Amazon holds 70% of the bookselling market.
I am taking deep breaths and drinking numerous cups of coffee (no vodka in them as yet)
These links to my books should work
If you are having any problems accessing my books on Amazon, do use this universal link to my author page, and the links below the titles for the individual books. Let’s hope Amazon sorts this issue out soon. I, like many fellow authors, am trying to keep calm while awaiting a response from our biggest publisher and retailer.
Please find links to my books below. These should (fingers crossed) take you to both the ebook and paperback versions of these titles.
Coffee and Vodka: A Nordic Family Drama
The Young Heart (Prequel The Nordic Heart Series)
The English Heart (Book 1 The Nordic Heart Series)
The Faithful Heart (Book 2 The Nordic Heart Series)
TheGood Heart (Book 3 The Nordic Heart Series)
The True Heart (Book 4 The Nordic Heart Series)
The Christmas Heart (Book 5 The Nordic Heart Series)
The Red King of Helsinki: Lies, Spies and Gymnastics
Write Your Story: Turn Your Life into Fiction in 10 Easy Steps
Wish me – and the many other authors whose income is adversely affected by this issue – luck that Amazon can sort it out soon. Let me know by commenting below if you have any problems accessing my books.
Thank you for your patience and happy reading!
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November 12, 2018
The Christmas Heart Blog Tour
Whoop, whoop! The Blog Tour for The Christmas Heart starts today! This my first ever blog tour, so do bear with me if I don’t quite know what to do.
The Christmas Heart
The Christmas Heart, my seasonal feel-good romance has had a wonderful reaction from my readers, with comments such as:
A really beautifully written romance. The characters are so wonderful.
Loved reading this book. – 5***** on Amazon
An engaging, contemporary Christmas read with a lovely, intimate and well-imagined setting in the Swedish Alps. I read it all in an afternoon, completely enraptured. The novella is rich in detail of characters’ lives, and is superbly paced. Fans of the rest of the series will like to read about Kaisa in a contemporary setting, almost 25 years after book four. – 5***** on Amazon
I like Halme’s crisp, clean prose and the plot is a fine second chance romance. And the setting in the Swedish Alps during the Christmas holidays, just screams winter, hot toddies and snuggling by the fire after a day
November 9, 2018
Wonderful book launch
Last night’s book launch at West End Lane Books in Northwest London was such a wonderful, joyous occasion that I feel truly blessed this morning.
Thank you, Danny and Heidi, for your hard work and all of you who came along.
The first reading from The Christmas Heart seemed to go down well and we had some interesting discussions about literary genres, writing in another language, translation and on sharing your own life stories. I talked about the sticky situations the first novel in The Nordic Heart Series, The English Heart, has landed me in. I’ll probably talk about those again at the next event and on the blog tour – see below.
The English Heart is based on the true story of my life
Of all of my titles, The English Heart follows my own life most closely; how I met and fell in love with my Englishman at the British Embassy cocktail party in Helsinki.
Last month, the Englishman and I celebrated 38 years since that first, fateful meeting. I cannot really believe that soon it’ll be forty years since we first set eyes on each other. Where has all that time gone?
When I was gathering together documentation for the UK Home Office for my residency application (you guessed it, due to Brexit), I came across this, the original invitation I received from the British Embassy all those years ago. (If you’d read The English Heart you’ll know how pivotal this cocktail party at the Embassy in Helsinki was). It even has the Englishman’s address scrawled with my lipstick on the back because we couldn’t find a pen anywhere. This is another little detail I added to The English Heart because it was just too good to leave out.
Following last night’s successful launch, you can imagine how delighted I was when I woke up this morning to find that The English Heart is Number 2 on Amazon’s best seller list!
Time-sensitive FREE book offer
So I thought that as well as sharing images from last night’s book launch, I’d let you know that the ebook copy of The English Heart is now free on Amazon until 11 November. This is a limited offer, so if you’d like to download the book, do it now before Sunday! Just tap here get your free copy.
Blog Tour and Forthcoming Book Event
If you couldn’t make last night’s event, there is a Blog Tour for The Christmas Heart starting on Monday 12th November (details below) and another book launch at the Finnish Church in London on 2nd December. Details for this event are found here and the Facebook event page is here.
Do come along if you are in London early December and drop in on the blogs that will feature The Christmas Heart in November.
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November 7, 2018
New Nordic Noir Titles
I was lucky enough to be invited to a book launch at The Embassy of Iceland last night. The event was celebrating the publication of the English translations of two new Nordic Noir titles from the Finnish ‘King of Helsinki Noir’ Antti Tuomainen and bestselling Icelandic author, Lilja Sigurdardottir.
Lilja Sigurdardottir
An award-winning playwright, Lilja Sigurdardottir has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in the series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California.
Trap, the newly published sequel, set in Reykjavik, is dark, fast-paced and has a chilling plot and intriguing characters. I was delighted to discover this new Nordic Noir title and to be able to speak with the author herself last night.
A romance with some drug dealing and death thrown in
The charming Lilja told me last night that, in spite of its obviously Nordic Noir theme, the book is also “A romance between two women, with some drug dealing and death thrown in”.
I cannot wait to read both of these books!
Antti Tuomainen
I’ve been a fan of Antti Tuomainen since I discovered his previous title, The Man Who Died, an international bestseller, shortlisting for both the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. The book is full of dry humour combined with some serious crimes. The tone of Antti’s prose is uniquely Finnish, yet the themes are universally recognizable with the characters’ lives – their dreams and relationships – laid bare for the reader.
Fargo meets Baywatch
Palm Beach Finland is described by the publisher, Orenda Books, as “Fargo meet’s Baywatch”. I couldn’t agree more with this, one of the better elevator pitches I’ve heard. With a nod to Fargo, and the darkest Noir, Palm Beach Finland is both a page-turning thriller and a wicked black comedy about lust for money, fleeing dreams and people struggling at turning points in their lives.
How pleased do I look to be taking a selfie with Antti Tuomainen?As well as the title of the novel, Palm Beach Finland is a resort aimed at those holidaymakers who love the beach vibe but hate the heat. A concept that surely cannot but succeed in the chilly North? But in the sleepy Finnish town where the ambitious new owner of the holiday spot has some grand plans for the future of his business venture, a mysterious death has occurred. As the local police fail to solve the case, Jan Nyman, an ace detective of the covert operations unit of the National Central Police is called to investigate. The main suspect is Olivia Koski, a woman in her thirties, disappointed in love and looking to settle back home in her late father’s house. Her property is the centre of some strange goings-on, including a murder and the burning down of a sauna.
If you want to get a Finn’s attention , if you want to tell your compatriot something vital and important , you burn down his sauna. – Palm Beach Finland by Antti Tuomainen, Oreda Books
I cannot remember when I highlighted so many sections in a book I’ve read. Palm Beach Finland is full of beautiful little snippets like the one above. I laughed out loud, cried and smiled my way through this book and cannot wait to see what Antti writes next!
The book launch at the Embassy of Iceland was such a fantastic event, with a happy, interesting crowd (many of my friends from the Finnish Embassy, not to mention the Anglo-Finnish Society, were there too) and to top it all, there were some bookish cupcakes.
I just hope my own book launch for The Christmas Heart tomorrow will have some of the magic of last night. (Sadly, I cannot promise there will be cakes topped with icing featuring the cover. Where are the British Bake Off experts when you need them?)
If you’d like to attend the launch, please email or phone West End Lane Books now, or join us tomorrow night in West Hampstead in London at 7.30pm!
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November 5, 2018
Displaced Sisters
I’ve just said goodbye to my sister who’s been visiting me in London. She lives and works in Luleå, Northern Sweden.
A Displaced Family
My only sibling and I have been displaced sisters ever since our father decided in the mid-seventies that he would take up a job offer from a Swedish telecoms company called LM Eriksson. They now make mobile handsets, but in those days they were manufacturing telephone exchange equipment and my dad was an electrical engineer, working for the local telephone company in Tampere, Finland. So off we all went to (us) the huge metropole that was Stockholm, where my parents’ marriage came to an abrupt end.
When they each went their own ways, my father returned to Finland and my sister and I, by this stage teenagers who spoke Swedish not only as natives but with a distinct Stockholm accent, stayed in Sweden with our mother.
This, apparently was our choice.
In their abject wisdom, my parents decided that the best way for us to determine our future was to sit us both on the sofa in our living room and ask us, in turn, to choose which parent we preferred. Parenting in the 1970s was something else, eh? Our dad took the rejection badly and we didn’t see him until a year and a bit later when our mum and dad decided to give their relationship another go and we were both whisked back from our beloved Stockholm to a small town in Finland called Turku. We cried on the ferry as we watched the beautiful outline of the Swedish capital disappear into the distance.
You may have guessed that as experiments go, trying to mend a marriage that broke down due to violence, this one was deemed to fail. Our parents finally divorced when we were living in Helsinki and I was 14 and my sister 16.
Leaving Finland Again
As soon as she was able, my sister moved back to Sweden. She never came back to Finland apart from occasional bouts of working in the Finnish Lapland and the Åland Islands.
And me? I hated living in Finland at first and never again felt truly at home in my native country. I even found speaking Finnish difficult for the first year so, reverting back to my Stockholmska by mistake on occasion. (Very embarrassing in the middle of a conversation). It wasn’t such a surprise that when I met and fell head over heels in love with an English naval officer at the British Embassy in 1980, I decided to move to the UK four years later. It was either that or Stockholm where, by that stage, both my mum and sister lived.
My Life in My Books
And yes, I have used much of my life story in my books.
Coffee and Vodka has some of my experiences when our family first moved to Stockholm, and The English Heart tells the story of how I met my Englishman.[image error]
Displaced Sisters
Us, the displaced sisters, haven’t lived in the same city – or even country – since we were teenagers, but we have always kept in touch. Nowadays, it’s so much easier with internet calls and social media, but in the early days we’d skimp and save to afford the travel to see each other. When the children came along, we made sure they got to know each other as cousins, and we spent many summer holidays together.
Now the children have grown up, I miss having my sister around more and more. Over the past couple of years, we’ve grown even closer together (if that’s possible). Of course, now we have more time. Instead of having to sneak away together to have a quiet drink (leaving the children with either grandparents or spouses), we can spend the whole of our time together talking, laughing and enjoying food, drink, music and art.
It’s amazing how much we have in common, even if we have lived in different countries most of our lives, and even if we are famously polar opposites of each other. She loves the night, I am a morning person. I like new things, but find comfort in the familiar; my sister adores new places and experiences. We had a typical conversation this week when we were both suffering from a cold but still decided to go shopping on Oxford Street.
Me: ‘Let’s go to Yo! Sushi in Selfridges – I love their miso soup and it’ll make us feel better!’
Sister: ‘Ugh, I can’t stand that stuff!’
(She does love sushi and Yo!)
These days, however, our differences seem to just bring us together; and we find it funny when we discover another new thing that we either love or hate. (Branston Pickle; she loves it and I absolutely HATE the stuff).
I just wish that sometime in our future lives, where we live wouldn’t separate us. It’d be wonderful to be based, if not the same city, at least in the same country!
But such is the displaced life, it’s hard to be apart from family members.
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