Purge (2008)
What happened in the questioning? Why everything changed after that? Who is buried under the floor?
Sofi Oksanen’s bestselling novel Purge is a chilling drama of two generations of women, set in wartime 1940’s Estonia during the Soviet occupation, and in the same country in the 90’s as it grapples with the realities of a new Europe. Narrated through a polyphonic choir of individual voices, Purge tells the suspenseful and dramatic story of Aliide Truu, an old Estonian woman whose hands are soiled with the crimes she committed during the Soviet era, and Zara, a young trafficking victim who in the present has managed to escape and has come to seek shelter at Aliide’s countryside home. As the two women start to approach each other and the links between them are revealed, a tragic and complex family drama of rivalry, lust, and loss that plays out during the worst years of the Soviet occupation of Estonia unfolds. In this way, Purge becomes an investigation into the cost of survival in a repressive system.
Purge became a runaway success, and Sofi Oksanen’s major breakthrough: No. 1 bestseller in Finland with sales exceeding 200 000 copies, Puhdistus has won its author numerous literary prizes, including Finland’s premier literary award, The Finlandia Award, as well as Nordic Council Literary Prize, the biggest literary prize in Nordic Countries. Purge has also won the 2010 FNAC prize in France. It was selected from 300 works published in France. This is the first time the award has gone to a foreign author.
With Purge, Oksanen has crafted a work acclaimed and loved for its brave deconstruction of history, its psychological sensitivity and its gripping portraits of women and the female experience of the loss of freedom.
"She could see the leather coat out of the corner of her eye. It squeaked when he moved. He chuckled, his ears red. His chrome-tanned boots shone, although the road was dusty and he wasn’t German. Should she run?”
"She knew men like these. Men with that kind of posture, men who know how to punish a woman, and, they were here to get a woman, and punish her. People with an insolent bearing, who smile broadly with gold teeth, stuffed into their uniforms, with their cap visors level, knowing that no one can deny them what they want. The kind of people who wear boots to trample anyone they want to.” (Purge, trans. Lola Rogers)
Rights sold to:
Albania (Dituria), Basque (Erein), Brazil (Record), Bulgaria (Perseus), Catalan (RBA), China (Shanghai 99), Croatia (Fraktura), Czech Republic (Euromedia), Denmark (Rosinante), Estonia (Varrak), Finland (WSOY), France (Stock), Galicia (Rinoceronte), Georgia (MTP), Germany (Kiepenheuer & Witsch), Greece (Topos), Hungary (Scolar), Iceland (Forlagid), Israel (Kinneret-Zmora), Italy (Guanda), Japan (Hayakawa), Korea (Eunhaengamu), Latvia (Jumava), Lithuania (Versus Aureus), Mexico (Almadia), Netherlands (Ambo/Anthos), Norway (Oktober), Poland (Swiat Ksiaski), Portugal (Objectiva), Romania (Polirom), Russia (Limbus Press), Serbia (Carobna), Slovakia (Slovart), Slovenia (Didakta), Spain (Salamandra), Sweden (Albert Bonniers), Taiwan (Commonwealth), Turkey (Pegasus), UK (Atlantic Books), Ukraine (Folio), US (Grove/Atlantic)
Film Rights: Solar Films Inc. (Finland)
The United States
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English: Purge
Paperback
ISBN: 9780802170774
Translator: Lola Rogers
Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat (2009)
Contact: publicity@groveatlantic.com
United Kingdom
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English: Purge
Paperback
ISBN: 9781848872110
Translator: Lola Rogers
Publisher: Atlantic Books (2010)
Contact: enquiries@groveatlantic.co.uk
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English: Purge
Pocket Book
Albania
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Albanian: Spastrimi
Hardcover
Brazil
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Portuguese: To be announced
Hardcover
Publisher: Record (-)
Croatia
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Croatian: Čišćenje
Hardcover
Publisher: Fraktura (2011)
Contact: fraktura@fraktura.hr
Czech Republic
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Czech: Ocista
Hardcover
ISBN: 9788020713193
Translator: Jan Petr Velkoborsky
Publisher: Odeon-Euromedia Group (2010)
Contact: odeon@euromedia.cz
Denmark
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Danish: Renselse
Hardcover
ISBN: 9788763811316
Translator: Helena Idström
Publisher: Rosinante (2010)
Contact: Info@rosinante-co.dk
Estonia
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Estonian: Puhastus
Hardcover
Finland
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Finnish: Puhdistus
Audiobook
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Finnish: Puhdistus
Hardcover
France
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French: Purge
Hardcover
Translator: Sébastien Cagnoli
Publisher: Éditions Stock (August 2010)
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French: Purge
Pocket Book
Translator: Sébastien Cagnoli
Publisher: Livre de Poche (2012)
Germany
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German: Fegefeuer
Hardcover
Translator: Angela Plöger
Publisher: Kiepenheuer&Witsch Verlag (August 2010)
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German: Fegefeuer
Pocket Book
Translator: Angela Plöger
Publisher: BtB (2011)
Greece
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Greek: Κάθαρση
Hardcover
Hungary
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Hungarian: Tisztogatás
Hardcover
Translator: Éva Pap
Publisher: Scolar (2011)
Iceland
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Icelandic: Hreinsun
Hardcover
Israel
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Hebrew: Hatihur
Paperback
ISBN: 9789655174724
Translator: Rami Saari
Publisher: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir Publishing House Ltd (2009)
Italy
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Italian: La Purga
Hardcover
Latvia
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Latvian: Attīrīšanās
Hardcover
Lithuania
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Lithuanian: Valymas
Hardcover
Netherlands
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Dutch: Zuivering
Paperback
ISBN: 9789041414717
Translator: Marja-Leena Hellings
Publisher: Ambo Anthos (2009)
Contact: info@amboanthos.nl
Norway
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Norwegian: Utrenskning
Audiobook
ISBN: 9788242148360
Translator: Turid Farbregd
Reader: Gisken Armand
Publisher: Forlaget Oktober AS (2010)
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Norwegian: Utrenskning
Hardcover
ISBN: 9788249506545
Translator: Turid Farbregd
Publisher: Forlaget Oktober AS (2010)
Poland
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Polish: Oczyszczenie
Hardcover
ISBN: 9788324715350
Translator: Sebastian Musielak
Publisher: Swiat Ksiazki (2010)
Portugal
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Portuguese: A Purga
Hardcover
Translator: Anna Toivola de Câmara Leme
Publisher: Objectiva (2011)
Romania
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Romanian: To be announced
Hardcover
Publisher: Tritonic (-)
Russia
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Russian: Очищение
Hardcover
Translator: Taissia Djafarova
Publisher: Limbus Press (-)
Slovakia
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Slovak: Očista
Hardcover
Slovenia
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Slovenian: Očiščenje
Spain
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Catalan: Purga
Hardcover
Translator: Emma Claret, Eila Pyrhönen
Publisher: La Magrana (2011)
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Galician: Purga
Hardcover
Translator: Tuula Marjatta Ahola Rissanen
Publisher: Rinoceronte Editora SL (2011)
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Spanish: Purga
Hardcover
Translator: Tuula Marjatta Ahola Rissanen, Tomás Gónzalez Ahola
Publisher: Salamandra (2011)
Sweden
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Swedish: Utrensning
Hardcover
ISBN: 9788249506545
Translator: Janina Orlov
Publisher: Albert Bonniers Förlag (2010)
Contact: Martin Strömberg
Turkey
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Turkish: To be announced
Hardcover
Publisher: Pegasus (2011)