Loukko by We are thrilled to announce that the French publishing house, Éditions Rageot, has acquired French rights to the Finlandia Junior Prize-winning Maresi (Schildts & Söderströms 2014), along with the upcoming volume in The Red Abbey Chronicles by Maria Turtschaninoff. Rageot, founded in 1941, is part of the Hachette Group, and is home to authors such as Katherine Paterson, Margaret Haddix, and Pierre Bottero. Rights to Maresi are now sold in 14 territories!
“I love reading the Guardian on Saturday. Last week end, I surfed around the children books section and found this very enthusiastic review about Maresi. I started gathering information and was so excited about it that I wrote to Elina around midnight. She sent me the files on Sunday: I started reading and couldn’t stop ! Maresi is so powerful with its poignant plot, its fantasy world, and its values that I was caught from the beginning to the end. Moreover, this strong female character with her personal quest is very much linked to our best-selling author, the late Pierre Bottero. Thus, it seemed essential for me to publish this book and make the French readers discover it! “
– Murielle Couëslan, Director, Éditions Rageot
Rave review in The Guardian:
“The novel is at once contemporary and timeless. Its unwavering feminism is resolutely modern, resonating with a range of texts from Ursula Le Guin’s 2001 Tales from Earthsea to Disney’s Frozen. At the same time, it feels authentically ancient and mythic.”
“AA Prime deserves credit for the spare, clear translation, as do Pushkin for publishing it.”
Read full review in The Guardian here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/30/maresi-maria-turtschianinoff-childrens-fiction-review
Another great review from the Daily Mail:
‘The first book in a very unusual fantasy/fairytale trilogy, bristling with feminism, inner darkness and intellectual questions’
‘Atmospheric and dark, it should garner devoted fans’
Read the full review in the Daily Mail here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-3421562/YOUNG-ADULT.html
About The Red Abbey Chronicles by Maria Turtschaninoff:
Maresi, Book I: The Red Abbey is a refuge for women and girls where everyone pursues their own areas of interest. Maresi prefers to spend her time reading and learning. Everything changes when the frightened Jai arrives on the island. She has seen her sister get buried alive for speaking to a young man, and her father and a crew of thugs are after her. Maresi and her friends have to fight to defend both Jai and their community.
Naondel, Book II, A prequel to Maresi, will tell the story of the First Sisters, and how they came to flee a harem in the faraway Eastern Lands and eventually establish the Red Abbey.
Untitled, Book III, A sequel to Maresi, will follow Maresi after she leaves the Red Abbey and sets out to establish a school in the oppressed province of Rovas.
RIGHTS SOLD: MARESI
Original publisher: FINLAND, Schildts & Söderströms
BELGIUM, Clavis
CANADA (French), Editions de la Bagnole
CHINESE (Simplified), Shanghai 99 Readers’ Culture
DENMARK, Turbine
FINLAND, Tammi
FRANCE, Editions Rageot
GERMANY, Random House/Heyne
ITALY, Atmosphere Libri
NETHERLANDS, Clavis
ROMANIA, Editura Univers
SWEDEN, Berghs
TURKEY, Altin Kitaplar
UNITED KINGDOM, Pushkin Press
UNITED STATES, Abrams
READING MATERIALS: The Red Abbey Chronicles
MARESI, Book I
English edition
Swedish edition
Finnish edition
NAONDEL, Book II
Swedish manuscript (not final)
English synopsis
UNTITLED, Book III:
English synopsis
Contact: info@ahlbackagency.com
