Fishing for the Little Pike
Translated by Lola Rogers. Also published as Summer fishing in Lapland.
In the utterly original, genre-defying, English-language debut of Finnish author Juhani Karila, a young woman’s annual pilgrimage to her home in Lapland to catch an elusive pike in three days is complicated by a host of mythical creatures, a murder detective hot on her trail, and a deadly curse hanging over her head.
When Elina makes her annual summer pilgrimage to her remote family farm in Lapland, she has three days to catch the pike in a local pond or she and the love of her life will both die. This year her task is made more difficult by the intervention of a host of deadly supernatural creatures and a murder detective on her tail.
Can Elina catch the pike and put to rest the curse that has been hanging over her head since a youthful love affair turned sour? Can Sergeant Janatuinen make it back to civilization in one piece? And just why is Lapland in summer so weird?
Fishing for the Little Pike is an audacious, genre-defying blend of fantasy, folk tale, and nature writing.
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Juhani Karila
Juhani Karila (b. 1985) is originally from the village of Kairala in Pelkosenniemi, Lapland, Finland. He holds a master’s degree in communication studies from the University of Tampere and has worked as a newspaper reporter. Karila won the J. H. Erkko Writing Contest in 2010. Karila’s debut short story collection, Gorilla (2013), was well received and placed second in the Helsingin Sanomat debut book competition. Karila’s novel, Pienen hauen pyydystys (2019), won the Kalevi Jäntti Prize and the Tähtifantasia Prize.