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Finnish authors abroad
Finnish authors abroad
A Finlandia-prizewinning author’s elegant and decadent fantasy about human-like creatures living in a nocturnal symbiosis with trees.
Winged human-like creatures Homo arboris live in symbiosis, each with their own designated lung-trees. At nightfall, they must return to their tree and attach themselves to the tree trunk with their wings or they will perish. Only their atrophied wings remind them of their ancestor’s ability to fly into the skies.
Katica, a playful and fiercely independent young woman knows how to get what she wants. Her favorite hobby is attending balls and bacchanals that the nobility loves to throw in their opulent mansions. She has charmed the aristocratic circles in which she moves with ease, engaging in romantic encounters and casual sex whenever she feels like it, until she falls genuinely in love after meeting Sera, an enchanting patron of the arts.
Doctor Marquis Berenice Lucretius, the wealthiest and the most pompous aristocrat has developed a syrup, a drug that makes it possible for the Homo arboris to spend more time away from their trees. He sells the syrup for his own financial gain.
Katica’s brother Aingeru dreams of reaching the sky like his ancestors did, and is trying to build a flying machine. But Katica knows that the Doctor Marquis will not approve such a thing, for he wants to keep the people firmly on the ground, focused on consuming more syrup
In one act, Katica takes destiny into her own hands. She steals her brother’s plans of the airplane and destroys Doctor Marquis’ plan to control her brother. The furious Doctor Marquis cuts her wings off in retaliation, and consequently Katica cannot connect to her lung tree anymore. She cannot feel the flow of the groundwater or hear the mushroom grow. Her world is empty and hollow. A cycle of revenge begins, and the world will never be the same again.
Nocturnal Lifelines is a mesmerizing literary fantasy with romantic, baroque and decadent imagery. It is an intelligent allegory that goes beyond its surreal premise into unexpected depths. Dark events are tinged with black humour, examining the fascination of the protagonist and her community with superficial pleasures, hedonistic gratification and the compulsion to maintain a facade. It explores our alienation from nature and themes of power, violence, manipulation, revenge and love. The text plays with various kinds of illusions on both a concrete and symbolic level.
Finnish edition
English sample 50pp
Synopsis
Review
nominee – ‘Torch-Bearer’ Literary Export Prize 2024 (winner tba 1.12.2024)
‘…an excellent novel about human-like creatures that tickle one’s imagination. – – Charming and moving as a whole. – – The characters in the novel are skillfully constructed, and the protagonists, in particular, are multi-dimensional and full of human contradictions.’ –Toni Jerrman, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
‘Nocturnal Lifelines is… a stunning revenge novel. – Enoranta knows how to open up the structure of the spiral of the revenge and how to describe its violence, for both the perpetrator and the opponent in every possible way.’ –Mari Viertola, Turun Sanomat newspaper
‘The masterful way in which Enoranta describes the explosiveness smouldering beneath the surface and the impulses and unpredictability that initiate change and lead to a new period of development is the best thing about Nocturnal Lifelines.’ –Tapani Uusiniitty, Ruovesi magazine
‘Nocturnal Lifelines tingles with exuberance, sobering, sensory-arousing insects and the trees’ cries for help. The non-chronological narrative reveals the story little by little, but remains clear and bright. Despite the sadder and darker themes, Enoranta’s unique world is enchanting.’ –Sini Helminen, Siniset helmet literary blog
‘The text is incredibly beautiful, thought-provoking and surprising. The fantasy world of the book is so different and yet so similar to the world we live in, that it makes the reader feel the emotions, pains and joys of the characters to be felt directly by the reader. At times I felt like shouting at the characters of the novel not to make the same mistakes we have made, but it seems that the novel is shouting the same things at us. Dear reader, this is a book for us all.’ – Jorman lukunurkka literary blog
‘The best of this year.’ – Jenni @mielenmaisemia, Kirjagram
