On Tuesday 6 November the Icelandic and Finnish Embassies held a joint reception to welcome two new books into the world. Palm Beach, Finland by Antti Tuomainen is a quirky, smirky, entertaining slice of fabulous where a covert ops detective investigates a death in a Finnish holiday village. Trap by Lilja Sigurdardottir is a smart, taut, first class read set in Reykjavik just after the volcanic eruption in 2011, where drugs running and financial scandals sit hand in hand.

Both books are beautifully translated, and published by Orenda Books. After Lilja and Antti were introduced and a small discussion over who claimed Father Christmas took place (I’m still not sure who won), publisher Karen gamely tried her hand at both languages, which was appreciated but not necessarily understood by the hosts! The evening was warm, friendly, and full of book chat as the drinks, canapés, and now famous cupcakes circulated.

I can thoroughly recommend both titles, I haven’t come across an Orenda title that I haven’t enjoyed, Karen and her team have the knack of finding wonderful authors with different and extremely readable books … I raise my glass to all of those involved.