The Cicadas
A touching and suspenseful novel about the friendship between two girls, and a heated depiction of a holiday that changes everything.
Lilli and Taika are best friends, or so Lilli thinks. The girls embark on a holiday together to a Greek island, and while the sun and freedom are glowing on their skin, a sense of threat looms in the air. Twenty years later, Lilli still doesn’t know what happened. Is she guilty, and if so, of what? Could a return to the holiday island solve something? Could Vasia help fill in the gaps in the story?
At the heart of the moving story is the relationship between the girls and the dark side of friendship, the thirst for intimacy and the power of a glance. The novel reveals how girls struggling on the threshold of adulthood are shaken by tenderness, vulnerability and cruelty, and the dark shadows that some fleeting decisions can cast over a life.
Emmi-Liia Sjöholm’s The Cicadas is a cinematic novel about friendship, desire and guilt. It explores how the friendships of youth and the mistakes made can have an impact throughout life. Sjöholm depicts the balance between insecurity and desire with a human touch.
READING MATERIAL
Finnish edition & PDF
Sample translation 30 pp.
Synopsis
