Agatha Zaza: The English Speakers

Author Agatha Zaza visits Oodi library's Saarikoski stage on Wednesday, 9 September at 17:00 to present her new novel The English Speakers (2026, Datura Books).

The novel's main characters - Charlie, James and Aija - are Helsinki detectives united by a sense of alienation within the city's police force. When the 15-year-old remains of a young American woman are discovered, Charlie and Aija must investigate a case whose roots reach back to a vanished Helsinki. An apparent suicide casts suspicion on their own team - and forces all three to question how well they really know each other.

The evening explores the novel's central themes: carrying trauma, writing about a city whose language you don't speak, and the nuances of identity beyond black and white, Finnish and foreign.