Category: News

Karen Sullivan, Publisher of Orenda Books, is delighted to announce the acquisition of World English Language rights for French author Anne Sénès’s profoundly original, lyrical novel Double Room (Chambre Double) from Carla Briner at Pontas Agency in a two-book Frankfurt pre-empt.

Karen says, ‘Double Room is an extraordinarily beautiful book, with echoes of Laura Kasischke and Kazuo Ishiguro, set between Paris and London, and across two time periods. The novel is narrated by Stan, a French composer living in England, and his world is experienced through the scents, sounds and colours that music creates for him. He embarks on one of the most exquisitely drawn love stories I’ve ever read, with Liv, a Londoner, who becomes the love of his life. Their duo soon becomes a trio, with the birth of their daughter Lisa.

‘When a tragic accident occurs, Stan returns to France surrounded by

darkness, no longer able to compose, and living in the Burrow, a home left to

him by an aunt. He shares his life with Babette, a lifeguard and mother of a

boy of Lisa’s age, and Laïvely, an AI machine endowed with Liv’s voice, which he spent entire nights building after her death. But Stan remains haunted by his past. As the silence gradually gives way to noises, sometimes even a burst of laughter, and Laïvely seems to take on a life of its own, memories and reality fade and blur, and Stan’s new family implodes…

‘Mysterious, complex, exquisitely written, this is an unusual, profound, sensorily vivid novel, with a great emotional force. The juxtaposition of this strange AI creation, which interrupts, sighs and even whistles, with Stan’s memories of Liv and their deep love, and his deepening sense of disconnection, his cracking relationship, provides an unexpected tension and an almost overwhelming pathos. There is always one book that sticks in your mind after a busy book fair, and Double Room is that book for me. This is something very, very special.’ 

Anne says, ‘I’m so thrilled to be published by such a wonderful publishing house. Being translated into English is a dream come true.’

Carla says, ‘I couldn’t be more delighted that English readers will finally have the chance to discover Anne’s lyrical and original storytelling thanks to Karen, West, Alice and the brilliant and dedicated team at Orenda.’

Double Room will be translated by Alice Banks, and published in B-format paperback, with flaps, in June 2025 by Orenda Books, with a second book to come. For more information, please contact Karen@orendabooks.co.uk.

Ten crime novels from Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2024 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

Tove Alsterdal – You Will Never Be Found tr. Alice Menzies (Sweden, Faber & Faber)

Anne Mette Hancock – The Collector tr. Tara F Chace (Denmark, Swift Press)

Jørn Lier Horst – Snow Fall tr. Anne Bruce (Norway, Michael Joseph)

Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger – Stigma tr. Megan E Turney (Norway, Orenda Books)

Arnaldur Indriðason – The Girl by the Bridge tr. Philip Roughton (Iceland, Harvill Secker)

Jógvan Isaksen – Dead Men Dancing tr. Marita Thomsen (Faroe Islands (Denmark), Norvik Press)

Åsa Larsson – The Sins of our Fathers tr. Frank Perry (Sweden, MacLehose Press)

Lilja Sigurðardottir – White as Snow tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

Yrsa Sigurðardottir – The Prey tr. Victoria Cribb (Iceland, Hodder & Stoughton)

Karin Smirnoff – The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons tr. Sarah Death (Sweden, MacLehose Press)

The longlist contains a mix of newer and more established authors including previous Petrona Award winners, Jørn Lier Horst and Yrsa Sigurðardottir.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Orenda Books and MacLehose Press both having two entries, and the breakdown by country is Iceland (3), Sweden (3), Denmark (2) and Norway (2).

The shortlist will be announced on 10 October 2024.

Karen Sullivan, Publisher of Orenda Books, is thrilled to announce the acquisition of World English Language rights for Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger’s breathtaking Nordic Noir thriller, SON, first in the Kari Voss series, in a three-book deal negotiated with the authors themselves. 

Karen says, ‘Johana and Thomas are both longstanding, exceptionally talented members of the Orenda stable, and both number-one bestselling authors in their respective home countries of France and Norway. When SON was pitched to me, I did not hesitate to secure rights for all three planned books in this electrifying, dark series. 

‘I can think of few, if any, crime novels written together by two authors from different countries and in different languages, and this is an incredibly exciting venture, marking the start of what I hope will be longstanding, thrilling partnership. It’s the first time we’ve ever led on the production of one of our international titles, and the entire experience has been deeply inspiring – in fact, a huge honour.

‘In SON, we meet Kari Voss, a psychologist specialising in body language and memory, working as a consultant to the Oslo police. Her own young son disappeared seven years earlier on his ninth birthday, without trace, and she has been riddled with grief and insomnia since that time, ceaselessly searching for clues to his disappearance.

‘When two teenaged girls are found brutally murdered in a family summer home in the small village of Son, outside of Oslo, Kari is called in to help. A friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, and it seems that the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…

‘With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there are dark secrets at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari’s own life, too…

‘This is emotive, twisty, brooding crime fiction, with a unique protagonist in Kari, who is able to tell instantly when someone is lying or withholding information. She is determined yet flawed, with a warm relationship with her father and with Constable Ramona, and she grieves for her dead husband and her missing son, while bypassing the official investigation to uncover the truth. Her uncanny ability to act as an almost human lie detector, and to take matters into her own hands when she doubts the investigators, makes for absolutely gripping reading.

‘Johana is known as the Queen of French Noir, with a string of number-one bestsellers to her name (most recently, Yule Island); Thomas’ solo thrillers and his partnership with Jørn Lier Horst have made him one of Norway’s bestselling crime writers. Collectively, their work has been sold in 50 countries, and they are both former journalists. As a team, they have created something fresh and original, and Kari is a fantastic, authentic protagonist.’

Johana and Thomas say, ‘Bringing Kari Voss to life has been the most rewarding creative experience we have had, and we cannot wait to share her stories with you. It’s a dream come true for us to be published first in English, and there’s no better home for SON than our own home at Orenda Books.’

SON will be published in hardback in March 2025, and in paperback in Spring 2026 by Orenda Books. The second book in the series will be published in 2027. International rights will be negotiated by the Salomonsson Agency in Sweden.  For more information, please contact Karen@orendabooks.co.uk.

Photo Credit: Pia Bråthen (piabrathen@gmail.com)