Loukko by 
Original title: Röda rummet
Author: Kaj Korkea-aho
Published: 2021
Publisher: Förlaget
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 320
Reading material:
Swedish edition, English sample and synopsis
A published author looking to buy an apartment in southern Helsinki. Offer me a good price, and I will write you a book!
Lust and power collide in an upscale apartment in the fashionable southern Helsinki. The steep and sturdy Art Nouveau walls have seen decadent parties and cruel games.
At first, it’s just a joke: a newspaper ad in which a young writer promises to write a book in exchange for an affordable apartment. But when a gentleman living alone offers him the home of his dreams, the young man finds himself involved in a remarkable game.
He begins to write a story that takes the reader to the labyrinth of desire and submission, to the nightlife of 1980s Helsinki, and to the intricate setups of relationships between men - but what is his place in it?
PRAISE:
“THE RED ROOM is psychologically skillful and pulsates with drive and strong allure. It depicts a world that for most readers is unfamiliar and hidden” - Runeberg Prize Jury on THE RED ROOM
“Korkea-aho’s text unerringly challenges many of our contemporary age’s notions of power and dominance, resoluteness and desire, without imposing pointers or ready-made answers. The novel openly and empathetically approaches the yearning of its characters and sensitively orbits the enigmatic and contradictory expressions of desire.”
– Nordic Council Literary Prize jury
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Rights sold:
FINLAND: (Swedish) Förlaget (orig.), FINLAND: (Finnish) Otava.
FILM RIGHTS: Aurora Studios
