“The Rat” - a fantasy novel set in Vietnam

The thrilling, suspenseful marine ecology novel “The Rattler” by Finnish author Risto Isomaki, set largely in Vietnam, has just been published by the Vietnamese Women’s Publishing House. The author is also looking forward to collaborating on a film adaptation of the novel.

The fantasy novel is largely set in Vietnam.

The 464-page novel “The Rat” was given a very Vietnamese name by the Finnish author because most of the setting in the work is in Vietnam, specifically Ha Long Bay - where the search for a legendary animal and the struggle for survival with a sea storm take place... The work also raises issues about environmental climate change in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular, related to the destruction of nature.

In the novel, Martti Ritola - a Finnish marine biologist - a world-famous marine biologist receives a letter from Vietnam saying that a very strange sea creature has died, its body washed ashore in Ha Long Bay. It is not an animal known to the scientific community but looks very much like a scorpion - a mythical animal in Vietnamese legends. Unfortunately, a big storm swept the body out to sea before any researchers could come to see it. Martti tries to find funding for an expedition to find the scorpion. His journey with his colleagues encounters many changes...

Through the beautiful images described of Ha Long Bay deep underwater, the story of an author who loves science has been fictionalized into a story with its own appeal, including descriptions of Vietnamese nature and people, showing the author's attachment to Vietnam (the author and his wife lived in our country for many years).

Vietnam Women's Publishing House and the Embassy of Finland in Hanoi organized a book launch with author Risto Isomaki at 9:00 a.m. on December 10, at Hanoi Book Street (19/12 Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi ).

During this trip to Vietnam, in addition to interacting with readers about the book “Con rit”, the author also hopes to meet publishers to seek opportunities to cooperate with the project of publishing 100 scientific books on the topics of health, education, environment… and especially to meet filmmakers and film studios to cooperate in making a film adapted from the novel “Con rit”.

In the Introduction “Is there any television station or film studio in Vietnam that would like to co-produce a film or miniseries based on the novel “The Rat”?”, author Risto Isomaki said that the novel was first published in 2011 in Finland and that several film studios in Finland have contacted him about making a film from this work. The film studios all want to cooperate with professional and potential units in Vietnam to carry out the project.

Writer, environmental activist, journalist Risto Isomaki was born in 1961 in Finland. He has written more than 12 novels and more than 20 non-fiction works on the environment and society; has received 8 different Finnish literary awards. His latest non-fiction work - "Memoirs of a World Healer", released in June 2023 is one of 5 non-fiction books that Finnish readers searched for immediately upon publication.

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