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Finnish authors abroad
Finnish authors abroad
‘Things need to be categorized; there’s order even in destruction.’
A new animal species is discovered on the island of Crete. With the body of an animal and a strikingly human face, the creatures resemble the mythical Sphinx. Their existence immediately shakes the foundations of science, law and ethics.
As researchers and governments race to classify the mysterious species, a Finnish veterinarian is drawn into the debate whether the new discovery falls under human rights or animal welfare legislation. Fascinated by the sphinxes, she is strongly determined to understand their particularities before others get to decide their fate.
Set in a near future transformed by climate change and pandemics, A Face Like Ours is both a page-turning speculative novel and a deeply moving moral inquiry. By confronting readers with creatures whose human-like faces make them impossible to ignore, Elli Valtonen exposes the uncomfortable logic that allows modern societies to exploit the others every day.
Drawing on her extensive experience as a veterinarian and a researcher, Valtonen brings rare authenticity and insight to her fiction. A Face Like Ours asks profound questions about ethics, compassion, personhood, and the boundaries of moral responsibility.
Both thought-provoking and heart-rendering, this intellectually ambitious and emotionally irresistible novel challenges readers to reconsider not only how we treat a newly discovered species, but how we justify the treatment of all those whose faces do not resemble our own.
English sample
English synopsis
Finnish edition
‘A FACE LIKE OURS is truly exceptional: when was the last time you read a profound philosophical novel that at times reaches the intensity of a chase movie? With the first draft, I made the mistake of starting reading it in the evening. The night was cut short, as Valtonen’s precise narrative never lets go of you. At times I laughed through my tears, but after the last page, my soul was both shattered and uplifted. What are we humans doing to those at our mercy?’ —Elsi Hyttinen, Publishing Manager, Kosmos Publishers
