The Rabbit Back Literature Society

Only nine people have ever been chosen by renowned children's author Laura White to join the Rabbit Back Literature Society, an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: a young literature teacher named Ella. Soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual known as "The Game"? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura White's winter party? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, as Ella explores the Society and its history, disturbing secrets that had been buried for years start to come to light. . . . In Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen's chilling, darkly funny novel, The Rabbit Back Literature Society, praised as "Twin Peaks meets the Brothers Grimm" (The Telegraph), the uncanny brushes up against the everyday in the most beguiling and unexpected of ways.

Tor.com

“A voyeuristic literary mystery with bits of Blue Velvet and shades of The Shadow of the Wind.”

A.V. Club

“Jääskeläinen does an exceptional job creating a densely mysterious setting, then takes his time teasing out a mystery here, an odd occurrence there, guiding the reader into a positively creeped-out state of mind without ever spelling anything out as scary: more ‘Sleepy Hollow' than a straight murder story.”

The Maine Edge

“An intricately quirky look beneath the surface of a small town and the successes of the literary minds that put it on the map. It is complex and ambiguous and very, very good.”

The Telegraph (UK)

“Twin Peaks meets the Brothers Grimm.”

The List (UK)

“Mixes the small-town surrealism of Twin Peaks with the clandestine-society theme of Donna Tartt's The Secret History.”

Financial Times (UK)

“Unnerving, enigmatic….Hints of Let the Right One In and Haruki Murakami's elliptical early science fiction novels flavor a creepy tale about mutating books, buried secrets and ghostly encounters.”

SFX (UK)

“An exquisite balance of suspense, precision-engineered structure and darkly playful humour… fascinating. And fun”

Bookbag (UK)

“Charming and intriguing, switching from playful to creepy to heartfelt and back again…. Good fun.”

TQR Stories (UK)

“A novel about big questions … wonderful characters…. Amazing.”

Metro (UK)

“Sly wit also characterizes The Rabbit Back Literature Society, a genre-defying Finnish novel.”

Bizarre (UK)

“Charming, chilling and gripping from its very first page.”

Harper's Bazaar (UK)

“Were you hooked on Twin Peaks? A secret fan of Northern Exposure? Obsessed with Fargo (the movie, not the TV series, naturally)? Then The Rabbit Back Literature Society has got your name written all over it.”

Jonathan L. Howard, author of the Johannes Cabal series

“Jääskeläinen has created a puzzle box of a book that touches on the seeds of creativity, the corrosive qualities of convenient lies, and the fictions that our own memories construct and present as fact. It doesn't answer every question it poses or every mystery it presents, but that's half the point. The Rabbit Back Literature Society is an easy enough read, but a rather more difficult think. The reader will find themselves wandering the byways of the little town of Rabbit Back for a long while afterward.”

Mike Shevdon, author of Sixty-One Nails

“Enchanting, mysterious, and beguiling, The Rabbit Back Literature Society blurs the boundary between reality and mythology until it vanishes like the skyline in a snow-storm.”

Karen Engelmann, author of The Stockholm Octavo

“Fiendishly clever and great fun! The Rabbit Back Literature Society mixes the cruelty, humor and wonder of a classic fairy tale with the challenges, competition and mundane needs of modern life -- especially the creative ambitions and need for approval that drive us from childhood on. A must for writers of any genre!”

Emily Croy Barker, author of The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

“The Rabbit Back Literature Society is part mystery, part literary-world satire, part ghost story, part fairy tale, but throughout this clever and captivating novel, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen reminds us of the real spookiness of the act of writing.”

Kirkus Reviews

“The novel gives a compelling view of the strangeness that lurks beneath the most ‘normal' places and people, and it draws on elements of myth, fairy tale and ghost story to increase the scary factor…Jääskeläinen hits the right creepy note to make the hairs on the neck stand up…read with all the lights on!”

Booklist

“With an uncanny understanding of authorial insecurities and a freakishly honed sense of the supernatural origin of literary inventiveness, acclaimed Finnish novelist Jääskeläinen eerily explores the nature of creative inspiration, incisively exposes writers' desperate aspirations, and suggestively unveils the price one pays to have one's dreams fulfilled.”

About the Author

Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen is well known in his native Finland for his fantasy and sci-fi narratives and has twice won the Kuvastaja Fantasy Prize given by Finland's Tolkien Society and four times won the Atorox Award for Fantasy. He teaches Finnish language and literature and is the father of three sons.

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