Maja and Lisa set new record with sequel to “Snow Sister” – VG

Never before has Kagge publishers printed a first edition as large as in “Solvokteren”: 37,500 copies are also much higher than the first edition of most other important Norwegian books (of course there are some exceptions). And even before launch, they have printed a second edition of 20,000.

In addition, the book was sold in up to eight countries before its publication.

– That is scary. We fear it is too much, but at the same time it shows that the publisher has faith in the book. So now we just have to hope that people think the same as us. We’ve worked incredibly hard on this book, says Lisa Aisato, and she gives it a light handshake: We caught up with the author and illustrator at the huge Central Distribution bookstore where they just signed 2000 (!) Books.

– Actually, I have a lot of pain in my right arm, it is probably a drag wound, and very stupid: because that is the arm in which I live. But now a miracle has happened: after all this signing, I no longer have pain, maybe it is the hope in the book that radiates, she laughs.

This is what 2000 signed books look like:

In 2018, the two of them experienced something incredible when the “Snow Sister” Christmas calendar arrived. People went nuts, it sold out, people were on miles of waiting lists, and in just a few short weeks it became the best-selling book of the year. And in just a few weeks, they made millions.

Read VG’s Book Review: Dice Toss 6!

The total circulation is now 250,000 copies, it has been sold to 29 countries and, according to Maja Lunde, Hollywood is well advanced with the film.

– I can’t say much yet, but there will be more news about “The Snow Sister” that we look forward to sharing, says Maja Lunde.

The fever of the “sister of the snows”: Earn millions in just a few weeks

Secret Garden

She says that “Solvokteren” is a story that has had the idea for a long time. It’s about Lilja, who lives in a world where the sun never shines and it always rains. But one day she follows her grandfather, who supplies the town with vegetables, and discovers another world that launches her on a great adventure.

– Find a valley where there is sun, where it flourishes and where nature explodes. Ever since I read “The Secret Garden” as a child, I have dreamed of finding such a wonderful secret place in nature, says Maja.

Lisa Aisato finally got a lot of inspiration from the story.

– Yes, I got impatient after I started drawing. There are so many contrasts here that I could play with. Contrasts in nature, colors and moods, the wet and cold against the dry and warm. But I’ve probably been more grotesque and brutal in this book, says Lisa Aisato, adding:

– My eight year old son thinks that some of the images are very scary.

The “Guardian of the Sun” continues not where the “Snow Sister” left him. It is a completely separate and independent story, but it is thematically linked to the first book and number two of what will be a whole seasonal quartet.

Background: Crying through writing – now “everyone” wants Maja Lunde’s Christmas calendar book

– While “The Snow Sister” was a tribute to snow, this is a tribute to spring. What connects the books is the format, the seasons, and the theme: both are about family relationships and nature. And both books try to miss someone. This time, the main character is orphaned and lives with a great loss, says Maja.

Painful not being able to squeeze

The two authors believe that the situation we are all in now has left its mark on the book, or perhaps more the other way around: the book has taken on new meaning now that we are in a dark age with the infection of the crown upon us.

– I had written, for example, that Lilja very much misses having someone to hug. Now we have also felt unable to squeeze for the first time in our lives. And it’s painful, says Maja, who believes the book gained a different depth after the pandemic began.

– Now we know what it’s like to live in the dark. But that’s why it’s so good that the book tells a story that there are lights up there. And, literally, spring is coming. We may need this hope and this light now more than in many years, both children and adults.

Read also: Maja Lunde writes a novel about viruses: – Feel paralyzing fear

Lisa Aisato feels in many ways that we still live in a state of emergency and insecurity.

– The basis is suddenly uncertain. Everything that happens in America, the crown, the weather, the fact that we can’t travel. And personally, it has also been a difficult time for me and my family because my mother has been ill. There are several things that make you need some light and hope. You get so tired of this uncertainty that it erodes, and it does something to you as a human being, says Lisa.

Maja adds:

– Yes, it is a state of emergency, and it seems that the whole world is moving. So now I sincerely hope you are on your way to something brighter. We are all looking forward to spring, spring 2021. I really hope there is an “after”.

Red, green, blue and yellow

One of the things the two of them got the most comment on after “The Snow Sister” was that people got together and the book was read aloud.

– We know that “The Snow Sister” was a completely unique event in the world of Norwegian books. It became a phenomenon. We are not trying to copy success. But when I worked on “The Snow Sister”, I also sat down and thought about other stories that I had the idea for a long time. Now I suddenly realized what shape they should have, that it was Lisa who had to illustrate and that there would be four books, one for
every season, says Maja.

– So there is also a fall story and a summer story ready in your drawer?

– If it does. And now we already imagine the four books together on the shelf. We also play with the idea of ​​colors. The Christmas book is red, this spring book is green, the summer book can be blue, because in that story the sea will be the center, and autumn will be orange or
gul.