Representing the best
Finnish authors abroad
Finnish authors abroad
Finlandia prize nominated YA debut tells a powerful and haunting story about forbidden love, oppression and the courage to stand against a world built on fear.
Finland, 2070s. A powerful religious regime has divided society into three rigid classes. At the top are the privileged members of the ruling Church. Beneath them are second-class citizens, forced into segregation and increasingly stripped of their rights. At the very bottom are the demons – feared and persecuted for their terrifying ability to tear souls from human bodies. And no one is immune: lose all three of your souls, and even the most privileged will fall to the lowest rung.
Sam has grown up among the privileged. As the son of a powerful figure in the ruling Church, his future should be secure. But he harbours a dangerous secret: his closest friends, Muhis and Zack, are second-class citizens – people the Church teaches its followers to despise, not to befriend, and certainly not to love. As his feelings for Zack deepen into something more, Sam finds himself increasingly at odds with the social order he is expected to uphold.
For Ella, there has never been a choice. Branded a demon as a child, she was torn from her family, forcibly sterilised and condemned to a life of segregation, surveillance and persecution.
When a chance encounter brings Sam and Ella together, he sees a girl rather than a demon – a realisation that compels him to further question everything he has been taught to believe. As the regime tightens its grip, can friendship, love and compassion overcome a system in which fear breeds hatred?
Told through an inventive blend of prose and verse, A Soul Thrice Stolen is a strikingly original YA dystopia exploring privilege, persecution and what it means to be human. Sam’s story unfolds in prose, reflecting the security and order of his privileged existence, while Ella’s voice emerges in raw, lyrical free verse, mirroring a life fractured by oppression and uncertainty.
Nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Children & YA (winner tba)
‘This dark and unsettling novel looks to a near future in which society is deeply divided and inequality has reached almost unprecedented levels. As different worlds collide, the protagonists are forced to question whom they can trust and whose side they should take. The novel skilfully interweaves verse and prose, creating an atmosphere of mounting tension that keeps readers gripped until the very end.’ —Finlandia Prize Jury
‘Skillfully constructed fantasy that explores many classic themes of dystopian literature, combining prose and verse in an intriguing way.’ —Kiiltomato Literary Review