The Core of the Sun
( Finnish - Auringon ydin - 2013 )
novel by Johanna Sinisalo
translated by Lola M. Rogers
Published: Black Cat - paperback - 2016
ISBN: 080212464X / 9780802124647
Grove Press - trade paperback - 2017
ISBN: 1611855373 / 9781611855371
Grove Press - e-book- 2016
eISBN: 0802190235 / 9780802190239
ASIN: B01FYISL0I
Audible Studios on Brilliance - MP3 CD - 2016
ISBN: 1522634983 / 9781522634980
synopsis
Set in an alternative historical present, in a “eusistocracy” - an extreme welfare state - that holds public health and social stability above all else, it follows a young woman whose growing addiction to illegal chili peppers leads her on an adventure into a world where love, sex, and free will are all controlled by the state. The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has bred a new human sub-species of receptive, submissive women, called eloi, for sex and procreation, while intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labor and sterilized. Vanna, raised as an eloi but secretly intelligent, needs money to help her doll-like sister, Manna. Vanna forms a friendship with a man named Jare, and they become involved in buying and selling a stimulant known to the Health Authority to be extremely dangerous: chili peppers. Then Manna disappears, and Jare comes across a strange religious cult in possession of the Core of the Sun, a chili so hot that it is rumored to cause hallucinations. Does this chili have effects that justify its prohibition? How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe? And will Vanna succeed in her quest to find her sister, or will her growing need to satisfy her chili addiction destroy her?
awards
....
( Finnish - Auringon ydin - 2013 )
novel by Johanna Sinisalo
translated by Lola M. Rogers
Published: Black Cat - paperback - 2016
ISBN: 080212464X / 9780802124647
Grove Press - trade paperback - 2017
ISBN: 1611855373 / 9781611855371
Grove Press - e-book- 2016
eISBN: 0802190235 / 9780802190239
ASIN: B01FYISL0I
Audible Studios on Brilliance - MP3 CD - 2016
ISBN: 1522634983 / 9781522634980
synopsis
Set in an alternative historical present, in a “eusistocracy” - an extreme welfare state - that holds public health and social stability above all else, it follows a young woman whose growing addiction to illegal chili peppers leads her on an adventure into a world where love, sex, and free will are all controlled by the state. The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has bred a new human sub-species of receptive, submissive women, called eloi, for sex and procreation, while intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labor and sterilized. Vanna, raised as an eloi but secretly intelligent, needs money to help her doll-like sister, Manna. Vanna forms a friendship with a man named Jare, and they become involved in buying and selling a stimulant known to the Health Authority to be extremely dangerous: chili peppers. Then Manna disappears, and Jare comes across a strange religious cult in possession of the Core of the Sun, a chili so hot that it is rumored to cause hallucinations. Does this chili have effects that justify its prohibition? How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe? And will Vanna succeed in her quest to find her sister, or will her growing need to satisfy her chili addiction destroy her?
awards
....