White Hunger (Chance Encounter Series) (11 page)
Read White Hunger (Chance Encounter Series) Online
Authors: Aki Ollikainen
The side of the boat has given in. It did not survive the winter; the planks could not withstand the weight of the snow. A goldeneye darts out of its nest and flies over the damaged boat, the flapping sound of the bird’s wing-beats spreading over the lake until the wind blends all the sounds into a silence that remains unbroken. But then the mating call of a lonely loon sounds.
A tall, lean man stands at the water’s edge. He allows his gaze to wander over the waves and as far as the opposite shore. His body, ravaged by hunger and disease, sways in the wind; the man can only stand upright with the help of his stick. Then the long, thin fingers let go of the stick, which falls over just as a pike splashes in the reeds. The man lowers himself cautiously into a sitting position on a stone near the water. He takes off his shoes, removes his ragged jacket, shirt and trousers, and steps naked into the lake. The water is still chilly, but the man barely notices, for he has experienced a cold so incomprehensibly vast that in the end it amounted to nothing but emptiness.
Summer has come. The man clings to this thought, hoping it will fill the emptiness of his mind so there
will be room for nothing else. The loon cries again. The man wades deeper, and when the water reaches above his knees, he spreads his arms and falls forward. The lake receives him. Submerged, he slowly plummets towards the bottom. For a moment, the man thinks he will never surface again.
Then he begins to swim.
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NO 1
Beside the Sea
by Véronique Olmi
Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter
‘It should be read.’
GUARDIAN
NO
2
Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal
Translated from the Catalan by Laura McGloughlin and Paul Mitchell
‘Understated power.’
FINANCIAL TIMES
NO
3
Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman
by Friedrich Christian Delius
Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
‘A small masterpiece.’
TLS
………..
NO
4
Next World Novella
by Matthias Politycki
Translated from the German by Anthea Bell
‘Inventive and deeply affecting.’
INDEPENDENT
NO 5
Tomorrow Pamplona
by Jan van Mersbergen
Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson
‘An impressive work.’
DAILY MAIL
NO 6
Maybe This Time
by Alois Hotschnig
Translated from the Austrian German by Tess Lewis
‘Weird, creepy and ambiguous.’
GUARDIAN
NO 7
The Brothers
by Asko Sahlberg
Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah
‘
Intensely visual
.’
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
NO 8
The Murder of Halland
by Pia Juul
Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken
‘
A brilliantly drawn character
.’
TLS
NO 9
Sea of Ink
by Richard Weihe
Translated from the Swiss German by Jamie Bulloch
‘Delicate and moving.
’
INDEPENDENT
………..
REVOLUTIONARY MOMENTS
NO 10
The Mussel Feast
by Birgit Vanderbeke
Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
‘
An extraordinary book.
’
STANDPOINT
NO 11
Mr Darwin’s Gardener
by Kristina Carlson
Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah
‘
Something miraculous
.’
GUARDIAN
NO 12
Chasing the King of Hearts
by Hanna Krall
Translated from the Polish by Philip Boehm
‘
A remarkable find
.’
SUNDAY
TIMES
NO 13
The Dead Lake
by Hamid Ismailov
Translated from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield
‘
Immense poetic power
.’
GUARDIAN
NO 14
The Blue Room
by Hanne Ørstavik
Translated from the Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin
‘
Shrewd and psychologically adroit
.’
LANCASHIRE
EVENING POST
NO 15
Under the Tripoli Sky
by Kamal Ben Hameda
Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter
‘
It is excellent
.’
SUNDAY TIMES
………..
CHANCE ENCOUNTER: MEETING THE OTHER
NO 16
White Hunger
by Aki Ollikainen
Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah
‘A novella that feels like a huge, great novel
.’
SATAKUNNAN KANSA
NO 17
Reader For Hire
by Raymond Jean
Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter
‘
A book that will make you want to read more books
.’
COSMOPOLITAN
NO 18
The Looking-Glass Sisters
by Gøhril Gabrielsen
Translated from the Norwegian by John Irons
‘
Raw and dark and wonderfully different from anything else
.’
DAG OG TID
The Maya Centre provides free psychodynamic counselling and group psychotherapy for women on low incomes in London. The counselling is offered in many different languages, including Arabic, Turkish and Portuguese. The centre also undertakes educational work on women’s mental health issues.
By buying this book you help the Maya Centre to continue their pioneering services.
Peirene Press will donate 50p from the sale of this book to the Maya Centre.
AUTHOR
Aki Ollikainen, born in 1973, has taken the Finnish literary scene by storm with his extraordinarily accomplished debut novel
White Hunger
, which has won the most prestigious literary prizes in Finland. A professional photographer and reporter for a local newspaper, the author lives in Kolari in northern Finland. His second novel will be published in spring 2015.
TRANSLATORS
Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah form a multilingual mother-and-daughter translation team. Emily has an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in German Studies. Fleur, her mother, is Finnish and has translated both fiction and nonfiction for many years. Emily and Fleur have co-translated works by numerous Finnish poets and novelists. They are also the translators of
The Brothers
, Peirene No 7, and
Mr Darwin’s Gardener
, Peirene No 11.
First published in English in 2015 by
Peirene Press, 17 Cheverton Road, London, N19 3BB
www.peirenepress.com
This ebook edition first published in 2015.
First published under the original Finnish language title
Nälkävuosi
by
Siltala, Helsinki, 2012
Copyright © Aki Ollikainen, 2012
This translation © Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah, 2014
Aki Ollikainen asserts his moral right to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
ISBN 978-1-908670-21-2
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Designed by Sacha Davison-Lunt.
Photographic image by Red Edge / The Gailans Archive
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This work has been published with the financial assistance of FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange