You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
MacLehose Press unveils new Millennium series title from Swedish author Smirnoff
MacLehose Press has announced that the English-language title for the seventh novel in the Millennium series by Swedish author Karin Smirnoff will be The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons.
Continuing Stieg Larsson’s bestselling series, it will be translated by Sarah Death, the award-winning translator of Selma Lagerlöf and Tove Jansson. In what the publisher says will be “a huge global event”, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons will be published simultaneously on 29th August 2023 by MacLehose Press and in Hachette UK’s international territories, by Knopf in the US and Penguin Random House in Canada.
The Swedish hardback edition was published by Polaris as Havsörnens Skrik on 4th November. The e-book and audio releases of the Swedish editions are scheduled to take place a month after hardback release, on 1st December 2022.
In April, in what was billed as its biggest acquisition for years, Quercus acquired the next three Millennium instalments by Smirnoff, with Katharina Bielenberg, publisher at MacLehose Press, and Quercus m.d. Jon Butler snapping up world English-language rights from Magdalena Hedlund at the Hedlund Agency, Stockholm, acting on behalf of the Stieg Larsson estate.
The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons has now been unveiled as the first book in the three-book deal, and the seventh in the series so far.
At the time of the acquisition, Smirnoff said: “It feels almost solemn to write the sequel to Millennium. I said yes to the project without hesitation, even though it postpones my own ideas for new novels.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to independently create and make something new based on a unique fictional universe that is known worldwide. The Millennium books are classics in their genre, where the combination of unforgettable characters and the strong political and societal engagement still fascinates readers. I will continue to build on Stieg Larsson’s core themes, such as violence, abuse of power, and contemporary political currents.”
According to the publisher, total sales figures for all six Millennium books, by Stieg Larsson and David Lagercrantz, stand at more than 100 million copies worldwide across all editions and languages.
The publisher says Smirnoff’s take on the Lisbeth Salander story moves the plot from Stockholm to northern Sweden, an area vast and beautiful, but also dealing with economic and social problems and the effects of climate change and environmental exploitation.
