Palm Beach, Finland
Page 29
‘Get to sleep, you mean?’
‘I mean get to bed.’
Olivia leaned over and kissed Nyman. How he loved the touch of those lips, so warm, so hot, so cool, so heavy, so feather-light.
‘Esa will be in the bathroom for a while yet,’ said Olivia.
‘Let him. We can go upstairs.’
‘The bedroom is right above the bathroom.’
‘We’ll be quiet.’
Olivia placed a kiss on Nyman’s cheek and whispered in his ear. ‘When was the last time you were quiet when I did this?’
Nyman felt her tongue against his skin.
If he’d been able to dream, he would have dreamed of this. But he didn’t have to.
This was real.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Palm Beach, Finland is my seventh published novel. By the time you read this, I will have published my eighth novel, Little Siberia, in Finland, and that book will be published in the UK in 2019, marking my sixth English translation. Ahem. The point is, I didn’t get here all by myself. Of course, I wrote the books – the texts are all mine, every single word – and the stories are very much a product of my imagination, for better or worse. But I did get more than a little help from a few friends along the way.
My previous novel (the sixth overall, if anyone is counting), The Man Who Died, felt like a turning point in many ways. After writing five very dark books – albeit that they all differ from each other, ranging from the dystopia of The Healer to the icy north of The Mine – I started to feel that I needed to change things up a bit. Well, more than a bit, to be honest.
As a result, my eight (if we’re really keeping count) books can be roughly divided into two groups: the very dark ones and the ones with a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of black humour in them, flavouring the noir proceedings. I feel I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to change my direction in this way. And I feel even more fortunate to have had the support to do so.
First, I want to thank my literary agent, Federico Ambrosini, for his invaluable and incomparable support and feedback. I am very grateful to have him in my corner. And on the subject of agents, I want to extend my gratitude to each and every person at Salomonsson Agency, Stockholm. Thank you.
I wish to thank the amazing Karen Sullivan, my UK publisher. She is a fearless independent publisher and an inspiration for anyone and everyone working with books. She works harder than anyone I know. Karen, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
My most sincere thank you to Jaakko Launimaa, the editor of this book (the original Finnish version, that is).
Thank you to my supremely talented translator, David Hackston. Finnish is not an easy language, but you make it seem so. I’m privileged to be translated by you.
Thank you to West Camel for your steadfast and careful editing of the English version.
I want to thank my mother and father for giving me the love of books and early encouragement with writing. I have the best job in the entire world, and that wouldn’t be possible without the bookshelves in our home a long time ago.
Finally, I wish to thank my beautiful, wise wife, Anu. None of this would be possible without you. You are my heart and my home. Thank you for everything.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Finnish author Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. The critically acclaimed My Brother’s Keeper was published two years later. In 2011 Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel of 2011 and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. The Finnish press labelled The Healer – the story of a writer desperately searching for his missing wife in a post-apocalyptic Helsinki – ‘unputdownable’. Two years later, in 2013, they crowned Tuomainen the King of Helsinki Noir when Dark as My Heart was published. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. Follow Antti on Twitter: @antti_tuomainen, on Facebook at Facebook.com/AnttiTuomainen, and on his website: www.anttituomainen.com
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
David Hackston is a British translator of Finnish and Swedish literature and drama. Notable recent publications include Kati Hiekkapelto’s Anna Fekete series (which currently includes The Hummingbird, The Defenceless and The Exiled, all published by Orenda Books), Katja Kettu’s wartime epic The Midwife, Pajtim Statovci’s enigmatic debut My Cat Yugoslavia and Maria Peura’s coming-of-age novel At the Edge of Light. He has also translated Antti Tuomainen’s The Mine and The Man Who Died (both published by Orenda Books). In 2007 he was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Translation. David is also a professional countertenor and a founding member of the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki. Follow David on Twitter @Countertenorist.
COPYRIGHT
Orenda Books
16 Carson Road
West Dulwich
London SE21 8HU
www.orendabooks.co.uk
First published in the United Kingdom by Orenda Books, 2018
Originally published in Finland by LIKE Kustannus Oy, 2017
Copyright © Antti Tuomainen, 2017
English language translation copyright © David Hackston, 2018
Antti Tuomainen has asserted his moral right to be indentified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–1–912374–31–1
eISBN 978–1–912374–32–8
Orenda Books is grateful for the financial support of FILI,
who provided a translation grant for this project.
For sales and distribution, please contact info@orendabooks.co.uk