Enchantment

‘An intricate tapestry of a novel by a masterful writer. Enchantment’s real triumph is its investigation into what we mean to one another as imperfect people. I wanted to savour every sentence of this structurally impressive novel.’

-- Catherine Airey, author of Confessions

‘This unsettling mystery by one of Finland’s leading novelists follows the investigation into the death of a 17-year-old girl, a protean figure who held a wide variety of people in thrall while alive and continues to do so posthumously. It’s a vivid, searing study of teenagerdom and Finnish society alike, with a bracing philosophical undertow.’

* The Telegraph *

‘Enchantment put a spell on me from the very first page. It’s an engaging and thrilling literary mystery that masterfully weaves multiple points of view together into one intriguing investigation of identity and perception … Mostly told in third person, with a little bit of second person, the chapters are unsettling, funny, sad, and heartbreaking, depending on the perspective from which they are told … With poetic prose that makes one want to dissect every phrase, Enchantment questions which parts of ourselves are left behind when we die, and explores how grief manifests in different ways and is affected by how the person who has died is perceived. Exquisite from start to finish, this novel is well-crafted, poignant, and sublime.’

-- Jacinta Richards * Readings *

‘Pulkkinen (True) offers up a gripping literary mystery centred on the death of an enigmatic 17-year-old girl … [A] beautiful meditation on the brevity of youth and the thin boundary between truth and lies. This will stay with readers.’

-- Publishers Weekly

‘Riikka Pulkkinen is a Finnish Joyce Carol Oates.’

* Livres Hebdo *

‘Riikka Pulkkinen (True) challenges readers to form their own impressions with Enchantment, a striking novel about girlhood, perception, and death.’

* Shelf Awareness *

Praise for The Limit:

'A quiet, mature novel ... Pulkkinen explores the limits of people’s control over their own actions and circumstances.'

-- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Sydney Morning Herald *

Praise for True:

‘Pulkkinen spins variations of [the] theme of transformative identity, having characters periodically relate to one another as if they were improv artists.’

* New York Times Book Review *

Praise for True:

‘A beautiful, sensuous novel.’

* Library Journ