Maile Chapman

Exceptional... more than simply an exercise in chilling atmospherics... Chapman takes the women's - often seemingly petty - hopes and fears, and creates a fascinating portrait of group consciousness. A psychologically unnerving, elusive and readable book

A gem; weird, vivid and acrobatic, its intricacies are sophisticated, its stance beguiling and complex. This is a writer of real power and aplomb

This scary, peculiar story of institutionalised women is immaculately handled and builds to a disturbing but inevitable climax

An eerily brilliant, psychologically sharp take on the Bacchae set in a 1920s Finnish sanatorium

Quietly and carefully, Chapman evokes the oppressive indoor life of the self-interned 'up-patients'. There is an elegant sparseness to her writing, complemented by her use of tactile metaphors

Has the compelling horror of a Gothic fairy tale... Chapman creates a novel  that stays with the reader and leaves a sense of being drawn inexorably into a deepening nightmare

Rural Finland may not seem a very likely locale for a gripping intellectual thriller, but pulling this off is merely the first of Maile Chapman's many accomplishments here. Your Presence Is Requested at Suvanto - what a title! - is as creepy as Patricia Highsmith at her best and as psychologically sharp (and confounding) as early Ian McEwan. With its portrayal of how quickly the conscience in shipwreck succumbs to delusion, Chapman has written more than a beautifully observed and utterly convincing first novel: she has written something of unfakeable importance

This subtly unnerving tale raise goose bumps as the tension builds towards the menacing finale

Chapman deftly ratchets up the tension, pitting off-kilter emotions against a sense psychological doom as the novel builds to an unsettling conclusion

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2010. 
 
In a remote, piney wood in Finland stands a convalescent hospital called Suvanto. Is is the early twentieth century and the patients, all women, seek relief from ailments real and imagined. The upper floors house foreign women of privilege, tended to by Sunny Taylor, an American who has fled an ill-starred life, only to retreat behind a mask of crisp professionalism. 
 
On a late summer's day, a new patient arrives on Sunny's ward, a faded, irascible former ballroom-dance instructor named Julia Dey. Sunny takes it upon herself to pierce the mystery of Julia's reserve, but soon Julia's tightly coiled anger places her at the centre of the ward's tangled life...

Maile Chapman

Praise for Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto

Exceptional... more than simply an exercise in chilling atmospherics... Chapman takes the women's - often seemingly petty - hopes and fears, and creates a fascinating portrait of group consciousness. A psychological ...

A gem; weird, vivid and acrobatic, its intricacies are sophisticated, its stance beguiling and complex. This is a writer of real power and aplomb

This scary, peculiar story of institutionalised women is immaculately handled and builds to a disturbing but inevitable climax

Exceptional... more than simply an exercise in chilling atmospherics... Chapman takes the women's - often seemingly petty - hopes and fears, and creates a fascinating portrait of group consciousness. A psychological ...

A gem; weird, vivid and acrobatic, its intricacies are sophisticated, its stance beguiling and complex. This is a writer of real power and aplomb

This scary, peculiar story of institutionalised women is immaculately handled and builds to a disturbing but inevitable climax

Exceptional... more than simply an exercise in chilling atmospherics... Chapman takes the women's - often seemingly petty - hopes and fears, and creates a fascinating portrait of group consciousness. A psychological ...

A gem; weird, vivid and acrobatic, its intricacies are sophisticated, its stance beguiling and complex. This is a writer of real power and aplomb

This scary, peculiar story of institutionalised women is immaculately handled and builds to a disturbing but inevitable climax

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