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<\/a>AS WHITE AS SNOW<\/strong> (Skyscape, March 3rd, $9.99 paperback, $3.99 ebook) is the second book in the internationally acclaimed Snow White Trilogy. Top Finnish teen author Salla Simukka brought YA \u201cNordic Noir\u201d into the spotlight amongst English language readers with the 2014 publication of the first installment of her Snow White Trilogy, As Red As Blood<\/em>, which Kirkus Reviews<\/em> praised as \u201ca cold, delicate, snowflake of a tale\u201d in a starred review. AS WHITE AS SNOW<\/strong> (Skyscape, March) continues the thrilling adventures of young Lumikki Andersson, a tough yet compelling anti-heroine in the vein of Stieg Larsson\u2019s Lisbeth Salander.<\/p>\nLooking to escape the notoriety she earned for her part in taking down a notorious crime ring, Lumikki (\u201cSnow White\u201d in Finnish) departs for a few weeks in Prague, where she hopes to find anonymity among the throngs of summer tourists. Soon after arriving, though, she meets a strange young woman, Lenka, who claims to be her long-lost sister. Although she\u2019s not convinced of Lenka\u2019s story, Lumikki feels drawn to the girl. Soon she\u2019s caught up on Lenka\u2019s sad and mysterious world, piecing together a puzzle that takes her from the belly of a poisonous cult to the highest echelons of corporate power. On the run for her life once again, Lumikki must use all her wits to survive \u2013 but in the end, she might find she can\u2019t do it all alone.<\/p>\n
PRAISE FOR BOOK 1 IN THE SNOW WHITE SERIES, AS RED AS BLOOD<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cLimned in stark red, white and black, this cold, delicate snowflake of a tale sparkles with icy magic.\u201d \u2013 Kirkus Reviews <\/em>(starred review)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSimukka creates a tough, self-sufficient heroine in 17-year-old Lumikki Andersson in this first book in the Snow White Trilogy\u2026 Fans of Nesb\u00f8 and Larsson won\u2019t be disappointed.\u201d \u201c[A] YA novel in the tradition of Nordic noir\u2014edgy crime novels set in frigid lands.\u201d \u201cA compelling start, a strong female character, the rich background setting of Finland, and a hint of a Snow White retelling are highlights of this work.\u201d \u2013 School Library Journal<\/strong><\/em> EXCERPT: AS WHITE AS SNOW by Salla Simukka<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright 2015. Published By Skyscape. Used by permission of the publisher. Not for reprint without permission.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>CHAPTER ONE<\/strong><\/p>\n Thursday, June 16<\/em><\/p>\n Shirley Manson\u2019s voice flowed into Lumikki\u2019s ears, assuring her that she only listened to sad songs, only found comfort in black nights, and always loved bad news. The sun shone in a perfectly cloudless sky. Eighty-two-degree heat sent sweat trickling down Lumikki\u2019s back. Her arms and legs were sticky. If she\u2019d licked the back of her hand, she would have tasted salt. Each strap on her sandals felt like one too many. Her toes and the soles of her feet yearned for freedom.<\/p>\n Sitting down on a stone wall, Lumikki took off her sandals, pulled up her legs, and wiggled her toes. A group of Japanese tourists stared. A couple of the young women giggled. Hadn\u2019t they ever seen bare feet before? Hello, I\u2019m from the land of the Moomins. Moomins don\u2019t wear shoes.<\/em><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t raining like in the song. It hadn\u2019t rained for five\u00a0days.<\/p>\n Lumikki couldn\u2019t sing along with Shirley because then she would have been lying. She could be happy without rain. Like now. The sun was shining and she was happy. She didn\u2019t want things to be complicated. She didn\u2019t feel good only when things were going wrong. Shirley could keep her doom and gloom. Lumikki switched off the music and let the tourist chatter fill her ears.<\/p>\n Italian, Spanish, American English, German, French, Japanese, Russian. In the melee of languages, it was tough to pick out individual words, let alone phrases. It was actually a relief because then she didn\u2019t have to concentrate on the trivial repetition of obvious banalities. Lumikki knew exactly what most people said at this spot.<\/p>\n What a view!<\/em><\/p>\n And it was. There was no denying it. The view over Prague was stunning. Red tile roofs, treetops, church towers, bridges, the Vltava River glittering in the sun. The city took Lumikki\u2019s breath away. Even after five days, she still wasn\u2019t used to this sight. Every day, she made her way to some high place just to gaze at the city and feel this inexplicable joy.<\/p>\n Maybe it was the freedom of detachment and solitude she felt. She was completely on her own. She wasn\u2019t accountable to anyone. No one was calling for her and no one wanted to know her schedule. She didn\u2019t have a single responsibility. Thoughts of preparing for her senior year of high school and working for the second half of the summer could wait until she was back in Finland. Now there was only her, the blazing heat, and the city, which breathed deep sighs of history.<\/p>\n It was June 16. Lumikki only had a week left of her Prague vacation before she was supposed to return to Finland to spend a traditional Midsummer with her extended family, this year in the Turku archipelago. She hadn\u2019t known how to refuse when her father assumed that of course Lumikki would come. She didn\u2019t have anything else going on, did she? A cabin rented with some friends? Special plans with a special someone?<\/p>\n No, nothing. Lumikki would have preferred to spend Midsummer at her apartment, alone, listening to the silence. She didn\u2019t yearn for merry schnapps songs, new potatoes, or herring. She didn\u2019t want to play the role of the diligent schoolgirl, smiling and chatting politely, giving vague answers to questions about the future and boyfriends, pushing away uncles who weren\u2019t biologically related and hugged her just a little too long.<\/p>\n But she knew Dad really wanted her to come. Mom too. Only three and a half months had passed since Lumikki was in the hospital. She\u2019d been shot in the thigh, but luckily the bullet had only grazed the skin. Much worse was the frostbite she got from lying in the snow. Working to unravel the mystery of a trash bag full of blood-soaked cash thrown into her classmate Elisa\u2019s backyard had gotten her in trouble with a network of drug smugglers. Tracking Elisa\u2019s dad, a narcotics cop on the take, had led Lumikki to a lavish party at a carefully guarded mansion. There, she\u2019d learned that the leader of the smuggling operation, known as Polar Bear, was actually two women who were identical twins. Lumikki had been forced to flee when Boris Sokolov, Polar Bear\u2019s thug, recognized her.<\/p>\n Based on Lumikki\u2019s testimony, Sokolov and Elisa\u2019s father both ended up behind bars, but no one could touch the Polar Bear twins. After everything that happened in March, Lumikki had decided that, from now on, she truly was never going to stick her nose in anyone else\u2019s business ever again. She had been chased, nearly frozen in a freezer, and shot. That was quite enough, thank you very much. No more blood. No more sleuthing or running for her life through the snow in slippery combat boots.<\/p>\n For a while, Lumikki\u2019s mom and dad had wanted to keep her at home in Riihim\u00e4ki, north of Helsinki. They\u2019d even pushed to give up her tiny apartment in Tampere, but Lumikki wouldn\u2019t hear of it. She spent all spring delivering newspapers to cover the rent, convincing her parents to keep the apartment \u201cjust in case.\u201d For the first few weeks, though, there was no point trying to get them to let her stay there overnight. Lumikki just accepted the situation and took the train all the way to Tampere for school every day. Gradually, her parents saw how impractical the commute was, and Lumikki started slowly moving her things back to the apartment. One overnight there turned to two, two turned to three, and eventually, in May, she announced that she would only be dropping by Riihim\u00e4ki every once in a while. Period. Her parents didn\u2019t say anything. How could they have stopped her? She was practically an adult, after all. Lumikki could pay the rent from savings and her small student stipend if she had to.<\/p>\n After school ended, Lumikki wanted a break. She booked a ticket to Prague, looked for an inexpensive room in a hostel, packed her backpack with just the bare necessities, and left.<\/p>\n The moment the airplane took off, she could feel the relief in her gut. Time away from Finland. Away from her parents\u2019 constant anxiety. Away from the streets where she sometimes still flinched when she saw a man dressed all in black. Lumikki had spent her whole life fighting fear. She hated fear. As she walked off the plane at the Prague airport, she felt the heavy chains loosen their grip. Her posture straightened and her steps became surer.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Lumikki was happy. That\u2019s why she turned her face toward the sun, closing her eyes and smiling to herself. Breathing in the scents of Central Europe. Digging through her backpack, she pulled out a postcard of the Charles Bridge lit up at night. She decided to write a quick note to Elisa, who was \u201cJenna\u201d now because she and her mother had changed their names. That was the only way for them to stay safe after what happened with Elisa\u2019s father. Lumikki still thought of Elisa as Elisa, though. They lived in Oulu now, in the north of Finland, and Elisa was studying cosmetology. She wrote to Lumikki from time to time to keep her up to date. In the last letter, Elisa had written about finally visiting her father in prison and how it hadn\u2019t felt as bad as she had imagined it would. It had been important to see her dad. In her letters, Elisa sounded surprisingly calm and a little more mature than before. The events of the winter had forced her to grow up and take responsibility. She couldn\u2019t be daddy\u2019s little party girl anymore, and surprisingly, that seemed to fit her much better than her previous role. Lumikki was pleased that things were going so well for her, given the circumstances.<\/p>\n Actually, Elisa had made this trip possible. She\u2019d sent Lumikki a thousand euros from the thirty thousand thrown into the yard before turning most of the rest over to the police. Lumikki told her parents that she was paying for the trip from her savings, but Elisa\u2019s gift meant she didn\u2019t need to touch them. It felt good to get the blood money used up and out of the secret compartment in her dresser where it never seemed to leave her alone.<\/p>\n Suddenly, a shadow fell over her face. The scent of incense with a hint of hemp soap overpowered the general smell of the city. Lumikki opened her eyes. Next to her stood a girl in her twenties wearing white linen trousers and a loose, long-sleeved shirt made of the same material. Her brown hair was done in two braids that wrapped around her head to form a crown. There was uncertainty in her gray eyes. The girl fingered the worn leather strap of her shoulder bag, which was the color of cognac.<\/p>\n Lumikki felt mild irritation.<\/p>\n She had seen the girl a few times before. She\u2019d been watching Lumikki, apparently thinking she wouldn\u2019t notice. They kept visiting the same tourist spots and crossing streets around town at the same time. The girl looked a couple of years older and was also on her own. Probably some sort of hippie looking for a traveling companion to sit with in parks drinking warm, cheap red wine and discussing the deep interconnectedness of the universe.<\/p>\n Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Lumikki had come to Prague specifically to be alone. She didn\u2019t want any new friends.<\/p>\n When the girl opened her mouth, Lumikki had already planned what to say. It would be brief, polite, and cold. Cold always worked. Despite the hot weather, though, by the time the girl reached the end of her sentence, a different kind of cold had crept up Lumikki\u2019s spine and given her goosebumps. \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cJag tror att jag \u00e4r din syster.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I think I\u2019m your sister.<\/p>\n About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Salla Simukka<\/strong> is a YA author, translator, film & TV screenwriter, and winner of the prestigious 2013 Topelius Prize (Finland\u2019s oldest prize in recognition of the best Finnish book for children and young people.) She is also the youngest recipient of the Finland Prize, which was awarded to her by Finland\u2019s Ministry of Education and Culture in 2013 in recognition of her exceptional artistic achievement. Simukka lives in Tampere, Finland.<\/p>\n BUY: AS WHITE AS SNOW<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Publishers Weekly <\/em><\/strong>(starred review)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Booklist <\/em><\/strong>(starred review)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Arctic setting of this import is used to full advantage, evoking a chilling mood and strewing genuine frigid weather obstacles in Lumikki\u2019s way\u2026The first entry in Simukka\u2019s Snow White trilogy will tempt mystery readers back for more.\u201d
\n\u2013 The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books<\/em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n