THINGS THAT FALL FROM THE SKY
One quirk of fate can send life spiralling in the most unexpected direction…
Things that Fall from the Sky is a stunning narrative that explores the unexpected and inexplicable nature of reality.
Three lives are changed forever by a series of random events: a young girl loses her mother when a block of ice falls from the sky; a woman wins the jackpot twice; and a man is struck by lightning four times. Selja Ahava weaves together these unique stories in a charming, one-of-a-kind tale about just how far people will go to force life into a logical pattern they can make sense of.
One quirk of fate can send life spiralling in the most unexpected direction…
Things that Fall from the Sky is a stunning narrative that explores the unexpected and inexplicable nature of reality.
Three lives are changed forever by a series of random events: a young girl loses her mother when a block of ice falls from the sky; a woman wins the jackpot twice; and a man is struck by lightning four times. Selja Ahava weaves together these unique stories in a charming, one-of-a-kind tale about just how far people will go to force life into a logical pattern they can make sense of.
Things that Fall from the Sky is a story of everyday life. But it is also a meditation on the passing of time, the endurance of love and the pain of loss. This prize-winning novel by one of Finland’s best-loved writers is now touching readers’ hearts all over the world, painting an unforgettable picture of the unforeseen twists and turns that can define a lifetime.
- Oneworld
- Hardcover
- April 2019
- 240 Pages
- 9781786075413
Buy the Book
$24.95
About Selja Ahava, Emily Jeremiah & Fleur Jeremiah (Translators)
Selja Ahava is a novelist and a scriptwriter. Her acclaimed debut novel The Day the Whale Swam through London (2010) was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literary Prize, and won the Laura Hirvisaari Prize (the Bookseller’s Literary Prize) in 2010. Her second novel, Things that Fall from the Sky (2015) won the EU Prize for Literature in 2016, and was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and the Tulenkantajat Prize.
Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah are the translators of Aki Ollikainen’s White Hunger (Pereine Press, 2015), which was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. Their other co-translations include Asko Sahlberg’s The Brothers (Peirene Press, 2012).
Praise
WINNER OF THE EU PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
“Selja Ahava tells the story of characters desperately searching for meaning in gentle and poetic prose that nonetheless remains razor-sharp.” – Münchner Merkur
“Selja Ahava’s quiet, suggestive second novel calls to mind a fairy tale…the narrative is both light and poetic, naive and wise – quite wonderful.” – Neue Zürcher Zeitung
“A tender, bittersweet work on the micro-tragedies in life, the roll of chance in all our fates, and the sorrows that mark our journeys through life.” – Victoria’s Book Reviews
“Things that Fall from the Sky underscores the arbitrariness, absurdity, excess, and fatefulness of life. It is so unsettling that it makes you laugh… Ahava succeeds in depicting the human mind, for which any unexpected change can…force one to reflect on existential questions.” – Helsingin Sanomat