Luminous

By Siri Kolu

“You and I, our love, have one week.”

The award-winning author’s startling new novel is about love, secrets and what is beyond one’s own choice. For a teenager, the end of a relationship carries apocalyptic weight. How to navigate the love of your life and face the end of world in only seven days. Told in bold but vulnerable voice full of teen age emotion mixed with elements of a verse novel and biblical references, Siri Kolu makes every page count in this thought-provoking YA novel.

The Luminous train arrives at the station shortly before the autumn break, at 6.10 p.m. From the train appear the Luminous who look like big humanoids, or angels, made of light. The Luminous spread in the city and people stop doing what they were doing when they are touched by them – a light mark remains on the chest of the chosen ones. Only selected people receive a revelation that the end of the world is coming in one week. Do they have the possibility to choose their own fate? 

High school students Ani and Kapri have been in love for a year. Everything is beginning, everything is possible. The arrival of the Luminous changes everything, the world and the loved ones. With two teenagers in love, seven days can feel like a lifetime but time is running out. In a moment of crisis, the world shrinks to include only the ones who matter. What secrets must be told before the end of the world? 

“Promise that we will choose each other, no matter what happens in this world.”

Publishing information

About the author

Siri Kolu (b. 1972) is a writer, dramatist, director and theatre instructor, which are among her many duties in the Finnish cultural field.She is a Finlandia Junior Prize winner and her works have been translated into 22 languages. Kolu has been awarded the Laivakello Prize by the Finnish Institute for Children’s Literature, and in the Netherlands, she won the Silver Slate Pencil. Me and the Robbersons received an honorary mention in British Book Trust’s ”In Other Words” competition in 2018. Kolu is a front-line author with a strong voice and she has published a broad range of works that range from humourous middle-grade stories to edgy YA cross-over fiction.