"The Unknown Soldier" is a story about the Continuation War between Finland and Soviet Union, told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers. Gritty and realistic, it was partly intended to shatter the myth of the noble, obedient Finnish soldier, and in that it succeeded admirably.

The Unknown Soldier

A journalist and a photographer set out on an assignment on lovely sunny evening. As they drive through the country they hit a young hare. Vatanen, the journalist, leaves the car and goes in search of the injured creature. The grateful animal adopts Vatanen and together the two scamper through farcical adventures and political scandal.

The Year of the Hare

From acclaimed author Sarah Darer Littman, a striking story about a girl's recovery from bulimia in the tradition of CUT, PERFECT, and GIRL INTERRUPTED.

Janie Ryman hates throwing up. So why does she binge eat and then stick her fingers down her throat several times a day? That’s what the doctors and psychiatrists at Golden Slopes hope to help her discover. But first Janie must survive everyday conflicts between the Barfers and the Starvers, attempts by the head psychiatrist to fish painful memories out of her emotional waters, and shifting friendships and alliances among the kids in the ward.

Purge

Sharing its title with the poetic name for Finland - 'the land of heroes' - Kalevala is the soaring epic poem of the Finnish people. Born of an ancient tradition of folklore and song, Kalevala is a work rich in magic, cosmic mystery and myth, presenting a story of a people through the ages, from the dawn of creation. Sung by rural Finns since prehistoric times, and formally compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the nineteenth century, it is a landmark of Finnish culture and it played a vital role in galvanizing Finland's national identity in the decades leading up to independence. And yet its tales of tragedy and triumph, adventure and ambition, hope, lust, death and birth, reach far beyond the region's borders, searching the heart of human existence.

The Kalevala

"New York Times" bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne welcomes you to a small town full of big surprises that are both merry and bright...

Nothing short of a miracle can restore Eliza Hayward's Christmas cheer. The job she pinned her dreams on has gone up in smoke—literally—and now she's stuck in an unfamiliar, if breathtaking, small town. Precariously close to being destitute, Eliza needs a helping hand…for her sick young daughter's sake as well as her own. But she's not expecting her holiday hero to almost run her down with his car! 

Rescuing Eliza is pure instinct for tech genius Aidan Caine. At first, putting the renovation of his lakeside guest lodge in Eliza's hands assuages his guilt—until he sees how quickly he could fall for her. Having focused solely on his business for years, he never knew that what his life was missing was Eliza and her little girl. But is he willing to risk hoping for a yuletide romance that could lead to forever?

Snow Angel Cove (Haven Point, #1)

Maria Kallio has just been assigned her first murder investigation. To prove to herself and her squad that she has what it takes to be a detective, she’ll have to solve the death of Tommi Peltonen. Found floating facedown at the water’s edge of his Helsinki villa, Tommi had invited his choir group to spend a weekend at his retreat. But beneath the choir’s seemingly tight-knit bonds seethed bitter passion and jealousy. As Maria sets out to determine the difference between friends and foes, she uncovers the victim’s unsavory past—and motives for all seven suspects. Now it’s up to her to untangle a complex set of clues before the killer strikes again.

The first book in Leena Lehtolainen’s bestselling Finnish crime series starring Detective Maria Kallio, My First Murder offers hard-boiled realism from a female perspective.

My First Murder (Maria Kallio, #1)

Itä on itä ja länsi on länsi, on tyttö ja tytöllä on unelma. On Neuvostoliitto, sen kulahtanut ja absurdi todellisuus, lannistetut mutta kekseliäät ihmiset, korruptio ja tyly lähihistoria. On Siperian juna, junassa hytti ja tytön matkakumppanina venäläinen mies. Ohi vilahtavat toistensa kaltaiset kaupungit ja pystyyn mätänevät tehtaat, kaduilla lainehtivat joet ja myrkytetyt metsät. Tähdet kolisevat jääkuutioina vihreällä taivaalla ja räkäinen kissa naukaisee yössä.

Cover Image Artist/Kansi: Martti Ruokonen
The Photograph of the Back Cover/Takakannen kuva: Pekka Mustonen

Hytti nro 6

When Nordic ski jumper Maureen "Mo" Clark set foot in Finland, she breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, escape from her famous skier father's shadow and a chance to jump in the renowned Lahti Ski Games. But Mo quickly realizes that balancing practice and classes is more challenging than she expected. So when a gorgeous bad boy teammate offers coaching assistance—for a little publicity in return—how can she refuse? Surely she can work in a few extra practices somewhere between studying for calculus and sightseeing in Finland? Amid snowmobiling and dog-sledding, ice hotels and Northern lights, Mo begins to discover what strength and perseverance—the Finnish sisu—is all about. Now it's up to her to take that final jump and cross the finish line in style.

The Finnish Line

At one time Corrie ten Boom would have laughed at the idea that there would ever be a story to tell. For the first fifty years of her life nothing at all out of the ordinary had ever happened to her. She was an old-maid watchmaker living contentedly with her spinster sister and their elderly father in the tiny Dutch house over their shop. Their uneventful days, as regulated as their own watches, revolved around their abiding love for one another. However, with the Nazi invasion and occupation of Holland, a story did ensue. 

Corrie ten Boom and her family became leaders in the Dutch Underground, hiding Jewish people in their home in a specially built room and aiding their escape from the Nazis. For their help, all but Corrie found death in a concentration camp. "The Hiding Place" is their story.

The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom

Murder is no laughing matter.

Yet a prominent Indian scientist dies in a fit of giggles when a Hindu goddess appears from a mist and plunges a sword into his chest.

The only one laughing now is the main suspect, a powerful guru named Maharaj Swami, who seems to have done away with his most vocal critic.

Vish Puri, India’s Most Private Investigator, master of disguise and lover of all things fried and spicy, doesn’t believe the murder is a supernatural occurrence, and proving who really killed Dr. Suresh Jha will require all the detective’s earthly faculties. To get at the truth, he and his team of undercover operatives—Facecream, Tubelight, and Flush—travel from the slum where India’s hereditary magicians must be persuaded to reveal their secrets to the holy city of Haridwar on the Ganges.

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing (Vish Puri, #2)

"The New York Times" bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels returns to the South Carolina Lowcountry with a gripping tale of two sisters haunted by one tragic night...

On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence, of love, and of hope. Each sister harbors a secret about that night-secrets that will erode their lives as they grow into adulthood. 

After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstable mother, and he is refusing to speak. In order to help the traumatized boy, Marnie must reopen old wounds and bring the darkest memories of their past to the surface. And she must confront Diana, before they all go under.

The Memory of Water

From the acclaimed author of Purge ("a stirring and humane work of art" —The New Republic) comes a riveting, chillingly relevant new novel of occupation, resistance, and collaboration in Eastern Europe.

1941: In Communist-ruled, war-ravaged Estonia, two men are fleeing from the Red Army - Roland, a fiercely principled freedom fighter, and his slippery cousin Edgar. When the Germans arrive, Roland goes into hiding; Edgar abandons his unhappy wife, Juudit, and takes on a new identity as a loyal supporter of the Nazi regime ... 1963: Estonia is again under Communist control, independence even further out of reach behind the Iron Curtain. Edgar is now a Soviet apparatchik, desperate to hide the secrets of his past life and stay close to those in power. But his fate remains entangled with Roland's, and with Juudit, who may hold the key to uncovering the truth ... 

Great acts of deception and heroism collide in this masterful story of surveillance, passion, and betrayal, as Sofi Oksanen brings to life the frailty - and the resilience - of humanity under the shadow of tyranny.

When the Doves Disappeared

 The arrival of a meteorite in a small Finnish town causes chaos and crime in this poignant, chilling and hilarious new thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir

A man with dark thoughts on his mind is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland, when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car. That something turns about to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the unexpected treasure is temporarily placed in a neighbourhood museum, under the watchful eye of a priest named Joel.

But Joel has a lot more on his mind than simply protecting the riches that have apparently rained down from heaven. His wife has just revealed that she is pregnant. Unfortunately Joel has strong reason to think the baby isn’t his. As Joel tries to fend off repeated and bungled attempts to steal the meteorite, he must also come to terms with his own situation, and discover who the father of the baby really is.

Transporting the reader to the culture, landscape and mores of northern Finland "Little Siberia" is both a crime novel and a hilarious, blacker-than-black comedy about faith and disbelief, love and death, and what to do when bolts from the blue – both literal and figurative – turn your life upside down.

Little Siberia

When Gunnar Huttunen turns up in a small village to restore a dilapidated mill, its inhabitants are instinctively wary. He's big. He's a bit odd. And he's a stranger. Everyone loves his brilliant animal impressions but these feelings soon sour when he starts to howl wildly at night.

And once the mean-spirited, small-minded locals realise Gunnar won't conform, they conclude he must be mad. Hounded from his mill and persecuted for being different, only the love of his life and the local drunk stand by him. Can he survive? And how?

The Howling Miller 

"Rautatie" on Juhani Ahon vuonna 1884 ilmestynyt esikoisromaani. Teos kuvaa korvessa elävän pariskunnan hiljaiseloa ja heidän yrityksiään kuvitella rautatien olemusta kuulopuheiden perusteella.

Rautatie eli kertomus ukosta ja akasta, jotka eivät olleet sitä ennen nähneet

Aleksi lost his mother on a rainy October day when he was13 years old. 20 years later, he is certain that he knows who's responsible. Everything points to millionaire Henrik Saarinen. The police don't agree. Aleksi has only one option: to get close to Henrik Saarinen and find out the truth about his mother's fate on his own. But as Aleksi soon discovers, delving into Saarinen and his beautiful daughter’s family secrets is a confusing and dangerous enterprise.

"Dark As My Heart" tells the story of a mother and son and the search for justice. It's a story about the cost of obsessions, the price of vengeance and the power of love. Set against a vividly conjured bleak and beautiful Finnish landscape, "Dark As My Heart" is both a Hitchcockian mystery tale and a modern Greek tragedy.

Dark As My Heart

Kimi Räikkönen is the Finnish superstar Formula One driver with a reputation for being fast on the track and silent off it – until now!
  
 In this superb and authorised portrait of Räikkönen, Kari Hotakainen gets to reveal the side of the man that few beyond his close family and friends have ever seen. Enigmatic and private, Ferrari’s former world champion driver rarely opens up to outsiders, but he granted Hotakainen exclusive access to his world and to his way of thinking. It ensures that this will be a book that will delight all fans of motorsport, who have long revered the Finn.
  
 Including never-previously-seen photographs from his own collection, "The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen "takes the reader into the heart of the action at grands prix around the world, behind the scenes as race strategies are planned, and opens up the private side of his life that he normally guards so carefully.
  
 With all the cult appeal of "I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic", the raw excitement of Formula One and the insight of the best biographies, this is a book every sports fan will want to treasure.

The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen

Kylmä trilleri. Kuuma komedia. Ilman suojakertoimia.

Heinäkuun alku suomalaisessa pikkukaupungissa: rantalomakohteen uusi omistaja on nimennyt paikan Palm Beach Finlandiksi houkutellakseen turisteja paitsi koti- myös ulkomailta. Kaupunkiin juuri palanneen Olivia Kosken perintöhuvilan keittiöstä löytyy kuollut mies. Paikalle lähetetään Keskusrikospoliisin peitetoimintayksikön paras tutkija. Hänen roolinsa: surffauksesta innostunut matematiikanopettaja. Tehtävä: selvitä mitä tapahtui – keinolla millä hyvänsä.

Palm Beach Finland on trilleri, rakkaustarina ja melko pimeä komedia. Se jatkaa ylistetyn Mies joka kuoli -romaanin viitoittamaa, makaaberin huumorin sävyttämää tyylilajia – jälleen uudesta tuomaismaisesta näkökulmasta.

Palm Beach Finland

One historic lake house. Seven murder victims.Four accused Army Rangers. Two versions of the truth.

Only one can survive.

Sullivan County, Georgia, belongs to Sheriff Emma Williams. But not when Army Rangers posted to the local base are implicated in a major crime. To an elite team of investigators led by Major Jeremiah Cook, the physical evidence Williams swears by presents clues to an entirely different story. The small-town sheriff has never worked a multiple homicide, and Cook knows it. Unless he can convince the locals that the recent crimes are part of a larger mystery, this outsider may never unlock the century of secrets hidden inside The Summer House.

The Summer House

A sexy category romance from Entangled’s Brazen imprint...

"He can protect her from everyone except himself."

Alana Gore is in danger. A take-no-prisoners publicist, her way with people has made her more than a few enemies over the years, but a creepy stalker is an entirely different matter. She needs a bodyguard, and the only man she can ask is not only ridiculously hot, but reputed to have taste for women that goes beyond adventurous.

Chandler Gamble has one rule: don't protect anyone you want to screw. But with Alana, he's caught between his job and his increasingly hard libido. On one hand, Alana needs his help. On the other, Chandler wants nothing more than to take the hot volcano of a woman in hand. To make her writhe in pleasure, until she's at his complete mercy.

She needs protection. He needs satisfaction. And the moment the line is crossed, all hell will break loose...

Tempting the Bodyguard (Gamble Brothers, #3)

Seventeen-year old Sarah’s life is turned upside down when her single mom is sent to jail. She’s forced to move, leaving behind everything she’s ever known, including her best friend Sydney. Lost and bitter in a new school, her one goal is to save money and move back home. Then she meets Angel Moreno. Enigmatic but gorgeous, Angel is almost too good to be true. Except for one thing, his archaic belief that guys and girls can never be “just friends”. The problem? Sarah’s best friend Sydney is not a girl. With their unexpected romance intensifying to places neither ever experienced, how long can Sarah keep Angel in the dark about the guy waiting for her back home?

Forever Mine (The Moreno Brothers, #1)

A postmodern Victorian novel about faith, knowledge and our inner needs.

The late 1870s, the Kentish village of Downe. The villagers gather in church one rainy Sunday. Only Thomas Davies stays away. The eccentric loner, father of two and a grief-stricken widower, works as a gardener for the notorious naturalist, Charles Darwin. He shuns religion. But now Thomas needs answers. What should he believe in? And why should he continue to live?

Why Peirene chose to publish this book:

'A stunning, poetic work. Like Dylan Thomas in Under Milk Wood, Carlson evokes the voices of an entire village, and, through them, the spirit of the age. The apparent tensions between science and spirituality, Darwinism and humanism, reach a beautiful, life-affirming resolution.' Meike Ziervogel

Mr Darwin's Gardener

Sharon has lived calmly in Chinook Springs, Washington, her entire life. All that changes when her best friend of twenty years, Penny, takes an impulsive trip to seek out her only living relatives in Finland -- and brings Sharon with her. The land of reindeer and saunas holds infinite varieties of zaniness for these two unlikely friends -- Sharon is a quiet mother of four and Penny was a motorcycle mama before she came to Christ -- who return home with a new view of God, a new zest for life, and a big impact on those around them for decades to come.

Sisterchicks on the Loose (Sisterchicks, #1)

From the author of the Finlandia Award-winning novel "Troll: A Love Story", "The Core of the Sun" further cements Johanna Sinisalo’s reputation as a master of literary speculative fiction and of her country’s unique take on it, dubbed “Finnish weird.” Set in an alternative historical present, in a “eusistocracy”—an extreme welfare state—that holds public health and social stability above all else, it follows a young woman whose growing addiction to illegal chili peppers leads her on an adventure into a world where love, sex, and free will are all controlled by the state.

The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has bred a new human sub-species of receptive, submissive women, called "eloi", for sex and procreation, while intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labor and sterilized so that they do not carry on their "defective" line. Vanna, raised as an eloi but secretly intelligent, needs money to help her doll-like sister, who has disappeared. Vanna forms a friendship with a man named Jare, and they become involved in buying and selling a stimulant known to the Health Authority to be extremely dangerous: chili peppers. Then Jare comes across a strange religious cult in possession of the Core of the Sun, a chili so hot that it is rumored to cause hallucinations. Does this chili have effects that justify its prohibition? How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe? And will Vanna succeed in her quest to find her sister, or will her growing need to satisfy her chili addiction destroy her?

Johanna Sinisalo’s tautly told story of fight and flight is also a feisty, between-the-lines social polemic—a witty, inventive, and fiendishly engaging read.


The Core of the Sun

"Fakta om Finland" handler om en brosjyreskaper som frykter vann og flyt, og som hele tiden selv flyter, mens han jobber på en brosjyre som skal få flere nordmenn til å reise til Finland, et land han overhodet ikke har noe forhold til.

Jeg drømmer om vann igjen. Drømmer at vannet er på meg og i meg og rundt meg, og at det flyter og flommer og drypper, og jeg har hørt at det å drømme om vann betyr forandring og hver gang jeg drømmer om vann tenker jeg; satan, forandring nå igjen. Skal det aldri ta slutt?

Slik åpner Erlend Loes fjerde roman. Hovedpersonen er brosjyreskaper, og han har nettopp fått en forespørsel fra den finske ambassaden om å skrive en brosjyre om Finland for å øke nordmenns interesse for ferielandet i øst. Samtidig oppdager han at bilen hans er borte fra den faste parkeringsplassen, stjålet antar han, og ankommer derfor Finlands ambassade i drosje. Her lyver han på seg en finsk bestemor og hennes finske matretter i aspik, samt en ikke ubetydelig forståelse for finsk språk, og dermed er jobben hans.

Senere forstår han at bilen er tauet vekk, for tredje år på rad, i anledning den årlige feiingen av gatene før 17.mai. Så snart forskuddet fra ambassaden er inne på kontoen, drar han for å løse ut bilen. I luken treffer han en ung kvinne som gjør et visst inntrykk på ham, så pass at han sørger for å feilparkere igjen allerede samme kveld. Den unge kvinnen har en lillebror som heter Bim, som har forlest seg på islandske ættesagaer og dermed havnet i dårlig politisk selskap. Søsteren setter sin lit til at brosjyreskaperen skal ordne opp.

Fakta om Finland er preget av Erlend Loes særegne humor, men samtidig fornemmer man en understrøm av lengsel og ensomhet hos hovedpersonen. Han frykter vann og flyt, han frykter forandring. Han er en sær og ganske skrudd person som lett lar seg besnære av sine egne fantasier og tanker i brosjyreskapingen hvor Sibelius, retter i aspik, Marimekko, og ikke til å unngå vannet (nesten tohundretusen sjøer!) er viktige komponenter.

Fakta Om Finland

What do we really know? What are we in relation to the world around us? Here, the acclaimed playwright and novelist takes on the great questions of his career--and of our lives
Humankind, scientists agree, is an insignificant speck in the impersonal vastness of the universe. But what would that universe be like if we were not here to say something about it? Would there be numbers if there were no one to count them? Would the universe even be vast, without the fact of our smallness to give it scale? 
With wit, charm, and brilliance, this epic work of philosophy sets out to make sense of our place in the scheme of things. Our contact with the world around us, Michael Frayn shows, is always fleeting and indeterminate, yet we have nevertheless had to fashion a comprehensible universe in which action is possible. But how do we distinguish our subjective experience from what is objectively true and knowable? Surveying the spectrum of philosophical concerns from the existence of space and time to relativity and language, Frayn attempts to resolve what he calls "the oldest mystery": the world is what we make of it. In which case, though, what are we? All of Frayn's novels and plays have grappled with these essential questions; in this book he confronts them head-on.

The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe

'Where itaranta shines is in her understated but compelling characters' Red star review (for MEMORY OF WATER), Publishers Weekly.Emmi Itäranta’s prose combines the lyricism of Ishiguro’s NEVER LET ME GO. This is her second novel, following the award-winning MEMORY OF WATER.The tapestry of life may be more fragile than it seems: pull one thread, and all will unravel.In the City of Woven Streets, human life has little value. You practice a craft to keep you alive, or you are an outcast, unwanted and tainted. Eliana is a young weaver in the House of Webs, but secretly knows she doesn’t really belong there. She is hiding a shameful birth defect that would, if anyone knew about it, land her in the House of the Tainted, a prison for those whose very existence is considered a curse.When an unknown woman with her tongue cut off and Eliana’s name tattooed on her skin arrives at the House of Webs, Eliana discovers an invisible network of power behind the city’s facade. All the while, the sea is clawing the shores and the streets are slowly drowning.

The City of Woven Streets

What does it take to survive? This is the question posed by the extraordinary Finnish novella that has taken the Nordic literary scene by storm.

1867: a year of devastating famine in Finland. Marja, a farmer’s wife from the north, sets off on foot through the snow with her two young children. Their goal: St Petersburg, where people say there is bread. Others are also heading south, just as desperate to survive. Ruuni, a boy she meets, seems trustworthy. But can anyone really help?

White Hunger

A highly contagious book virus, a literary society and a Snow Queen-like disappearing author 'She came to realise that under one reality there's always another. And another one under that.' Only very special people are chosen by children's author Laura White to join 'The Society', an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: Ella, literature teacher and possessor of beautifully curving lips. But soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual, 'The Game'? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura's winter party, in a whirlwind of snow? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, disturbing secrets that had been buried come to light... In this chilling, darkly funny novel, the uncanny brushes up against the everyday in the most beguiling and unexpected of ways.

The Rabbit Back Literature Society

Raja Gidh (Urdu: راجه گدھ) by Bano Qudsia is one of the most widely read and acclaimed Urdu novels. Gidh is the Urdu word for a vulture and Raja is a Hindi synonym for king. The name anticipates the kingdom of vultures. In fact, parallel to the main plot of the novel, an allegorical story of such a kingdom is narrated. The metaphor of the vulture as an animal feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals is employed to portray the trespassing of ethical limits imposed by the society or by the religion.

Bano Qudsia has written this novel drawing on the religious concept of Haraam and Halaal. Many readers tend to interpret Raja Gidh as a sermon, in which Bano Qudsia puts forth her theory of hereditary transmission of Haraam genes. Naturally the plot is woven to support the thesis. In the opinion of many readers and critics she manages to convince them that the pursuance of Haraam, be it financial, moral or emotional, results in the deterioration of a person's normality in some sense. She seems to suggest that the abnormality is transferred genetically to the next generation.

Apart from the above implication the novel has many social, emotional and psychological aspects. The nostalgic narration of the historical Government College Lahore and of the Lawrence Garden Lahore lights upon the days of seventies and eighties.

Bano Qudsia is among those Urdu writers who would think ten times before writing a sentence. But she does not sacrifice the flow of the narrative anywhere in this novel. Her characters are not black and white ones as some of the critics would like to suggest. Every sensitive reader who has attended a college or a university in a Pakistani setting is bound to find some similarities between themselves and one of the characters.

Plot: Seemin Shah, hailing from an upper middle class family, falls in love with her handsome class fellow Aftab in the MA Sociology class at Government College Lahore. Seemin is a modern and attractive urban girl and attracts most of her male class fellows, including the narrator (abdul)Qayyum and the young liberal professor Suhail. Aftab belongs to a Kashmiri business family. Though he also loves her, he can not rise above his family values and succumbs to his parent's pressure to marry someone against his wishes and leave for London to look after his family business. Now the long story of separation begins.

Raja Gidh / راجه گدھ

Set in Finland in 1939, this is the story of one man who remains in his home town when everyone else has fled, burning down their houses in their wake, before the invading Russians arrive. 

Timo remains behind because he can't imagine life anywhere else, doing anything else besides felling the trees near his home. This is a novel about belonging - a tale of powerful and forbidden friendships forged during a war, of unexpected bravery and astonishing survival instincts. 
"
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles "is not a novel about war, but about the lives of ordinary people dragged into war, each of whom only wants to find the path back home. 

Roy Jacobsen uses the dramatic natural landscape of light and darkness, fire-blazing heat and life-robbing cold to spectacular effect.

The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles

From the author of Catherine, Called Birdy comes another spellbinding novel set in medieval England. The girl known only as Brat has no family, no home, and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the sharp-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat--who renames herself Alyce--gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something from life: "A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world." Medieval village life makes a lively backdrop for the funny, poignant story of how Alyce gets what she wants. A concluding note discusses midwifery past and present. A Newbery Medal book.

The Midwife's Apprentice


  Discover the Finnish quality of "sisu" and how cultivating it can help you lead a life of greater purpose and happiness.
This ancient Finnish word describes an attitude of courage, resilience, grit, tenacity and perseverance. This key psychological competence enables extraordinary action in times of adversity. To have "sisu" confers a further dimension of doing so with honesty, integrity and humility.
  By cultivating "sisu" you can:
  

  Face life's challenges with courage and determination 
  Enhance your wellbeing and find your focus 
  Communicate confidently and resolve conflicts effectively 
  Cultivate endurance and achieve your fitness goals 
  Raise kind and resilient children 
  Act with integrity and fight for what you believe in "Sisu" is a universal trait. It may have been bottled and labelled by the Finns, but it is within reach of everyone. It lies within you, and you are very likely to have used it already.

Sisu: The Finnish Art of Courage

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, but after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything; instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele's behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends, but when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore's secrets extend far beyond its walls.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)

Few countries in Europe have undergone such rapid social, political and economic changes as Finland has during the last fifty years. David Kirby here sets out the fascinating history of this northern country, for centuries on the east-west divide of Europe, a country not blessed by nature, most of whose inhabitants still earned a living from farming fifty years ago, but which today is one of the most prosperous members of the European Union. He shows how this small country was able not only to survive in peace and war but also to preserve and develop its own highly distinctive identity, neither Scandinavian nor Eastern European. He traces the evolution of the idea of a Finnish national state, from the long centuries as part of the Swedish realm, through self-government within the Russian Empire, and into the stormy and tragic birth of the independent state in the twentieth century.

A Concise History of Finland

Consists of a series of letters sent beyond the sea from a city of insects. Nominated for the prestigious Finlandia prize, this is a book of changes that speaks of metamorphoses that test all of nature from a flea to a star, from stone and grass to a human.

Tainaron: Mail from Another City

In Urwind, on the face of it a simple tale of a Helsinki antiquarian bookseller whose wife has abandoned him, there is a complex layering of experience, past and present. The telling is more a matter of inner than outer events - intimate, rapt. In the "ur-vind", or primordial attic, are stored not only relics from the story-teller's past, but also memories of the neighbours, friends and relations who inhabited the apartment house in which he was brought up. The "ur-vind" is also the cosmic wind, blowing from beyond the reassuring walls of houses and apartments. And it is the story-teller's name Daniel Urwind, in whom is focused a wealth of literary and artistic allusions and antecedents that include the Merz-Bau of Kurt Schwitters, the paintings of Cezanne and the fiction of Kafka.

Urwind

In 1939, tiny Finland waged war - the kind of war that spawns legends - against the mighty Soviet Union, and yet their epic struggle has been largely ignored. Guerrillas on skis, heroic single-handed attacks on tanks, unfathomable endurance, and the charismatic leadership of one of this century's true military geniuses - these are the elements of both the Finnish victory and a gripping tale of war.

Finland

The Unknown Soldier

Väinö Linna

The Year of the Hare

Arto Paasilinna

Purge

Sarah Darer Littman

The Kalevala

Elias Lönnrot

Snow Angel Cove (Haven Point, #1)

RaeAnne Thayne

My First Murder (Maria Kallio, #1)

Leena Lehtolainen

Hytti nro 6

Rosa Liksom

The Finnish Line

Linda Gerber

The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing (Vish Puri, #2)

Tarquin Hall

The Memory of Water

Karen White

When the Doves Disappeared

Sofi Oksanen

Little Siberia

Antti Tuomainen

The Howling Miller

Arto Paasilinna

Rautatie eli kertomus ukosta ja akasta, jotka eivät olleet sitä ennen nähneet

Juhani Aho

Dark As My Heart

Antti Tuomainen

The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen

Kari Hotakainen

Palm Beach Finland

Antti Tuomainen

The Summer House

James Patterson

Tempting the Bodyguard (Gamble Brothers, #3)

J. Lynn

Forever Mine (The Moreno Brothers, #1)

Elizabeth Reyes

Mr Darwin's Gardener

Kristina Carlson

Sisterchicks on the Loose (Sisterchicks, #1)

Robin Jones Gunn

The Core of the Sun

Johanna Sinisalo

Fakta Om Finland

Erlend Loe

The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe

Michael Frayn

The City of Woven Streets

Emmi Itäranta

White Hunger

Aki Ollikainen

The Rabbit Back Literature Society

Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen

Raja Gidh / راجه گدھ

Bano Qudsia

The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles

Roy Jacobsen

The Midwife's Apprentice

Karen Cushman

Sisu: The Finnish Art of Courage

Joanna Nylund

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)

Robin Sloan

A Concise History of Finland

David Kirby

Tainaron: Mail from Another City

Leena Krohn

Urwind

Bo Carpelan

A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940

William R. Trotter