Arctic Mirage

When Karo and Risto's holiday to Northern Finland ends in a car accident, they are forced to stay at the luxurious Arctic Mirage Hotel. Will their relationship survive the next six days?

✓  Winner of the 2020 Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize – Prestigious award for the best debut novel of the year

✓  International feature film in development by SF Studios!

✓  Over 4,000 copies sold in Germany!

Karo and Risto go on holiday in Lapland to give themselves time to fix their stressful marriage. However, on their way back home, they’re involved in a car accident and are subsequently forced to stay at the only accommodation in the area; Hotel Arctic Mirage. Once inside, they find that the hotel has a rather strange atmosphere and it starts to have a peculiar effect on them. Karo begins to doubt her own memories and tries her best to escape the snowbound hotel holiday village whereas Risto starts to feel strange and refuses to leave.

Arctic Mirage is a strong-spirited, psychological novel about people in exceptional circumstances. It keeps the reader gripped and provides chills on every page.

Praise:

"In a rich and sensitive novel in which people can be strange, lewd, and at the same time infinitely ordinary. Contradictions and a mystery-like atmosphere remain after finishing the book - as happens in the best and most fascinating novels." - Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

” A crisis can reveal new sides to a person or a relationship. A crisis can help turn around one’s life in a new direction. By pushing her character into a crisis, a writer can sometimes observe the abyss of the mind. —- How eloquently we are led from the drama of a crisis into facing the questions of domination and subjugation. —- The intense mood is amplified by the close-knit style of expression. The general impression of this dense novel follows along the same lines as the communication between the characters: it surely is cold but it does emit some heat.” – Parnasso, Finland 8.10.2020

“The unusual setting of the luxury hotel in the middle of the cold, snowy, isolated atmosphere of Lapland wasteland which translates directly to the inner numbness the characters, the slow unmasking of the characters, the carefully crafted language, the subtle atmosphere of menace – these are all things which made me fall in love with this phenomenal novel. I have to admit that it has captured my thoughts since the very moment I read the English sample translation, for it is not only one of the best reading experiences I had in a long time, it’s also such an interesting study of some of the most pressing issues of our time. Terhi Kokkonen is such a brilliant, exceptional addition to our list of international authors!” – Lina Muzur, Verlagsleiterin/Publishing Director, Hanser Berlin

”Terhi Kokkonen’s debut has such a titillating setting - and a frigid ambience which is not only dependent on the northern locale. Arctic Mirage is so skillfully constructed and masterfully told that you’ll want to wolf it down despite the chilly atmosphere.” – Anna Magazine, Finland, 4.11.2020

”For a debut novelist, Terhi Kokkonen has a rare repertoire of character depiction. This psychological novel confirms the commonplace fact of life that a human being sees unclearly into another human being. The book’s atmosphere of mysterious and ambiguous information is also the core of the understanding of life it offers. The narrator gives a close account of the characters’ perspectives without anyone explaining why their observations contradict. ” – HS Teema, Finland 22.10.2020

“An interesting depiction of the human mind.” – Me Naiset Magazine, Finland 18.12.2020

“Starting from the first page, there’s this suspense that grips you. The story very quickly makes it clear how people who’ve been together for a long time, really can live in completely different worlds. I find it fascinating. I believe it exists in every relationship.” – Musician and Colleague Laura Närhi in Trendi Magazine, Finland 8.10.2020