The year is 1883, and the stark Icelandic landscape is the backdrop for this spellbinding fable that is part mystery, part fairy tale. The fates of a priest, a naturalist, and a young woman with Down syndrome are intrinsically bound and gradually, surprisingly unraveled.

"Sjon's fable...describes its world with brilliant, precise, concrete colour and detail while at the same time making things and people mysterious and ungraspable...The world of 19th-century Iceland is brilliantly and economically present: the bareness of the dwellings, the roughness of the churches and congregations, the meager food...The novel is a parable, comic, and lyrical about the nature of things."—A.S. Byatt for The Times

Sjon was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1962. A novelist, playwright, lyricist, and poet, he wrote the lyrics to Bjork’s hit songs “Isobel,” “Joga,” and “Bachelorette” and was nominated for an Academy Award for his lyrics to the music for the film Dancer in the Dark, directed by Lars von Trier.

About the Author

Sj�n was born in Reykjavik in 1962. His first collection of poetry was published when he was sixteen. He has gone on to publish many poetry collections, novels, plays and books for children. He has received numerous literary awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award for the music for Dancer In The Dark, directed by Lars von Trier Translator Victoria Cribb lived in Iceland for many years. She now lives in London, where she teaches an undergraduate course in Icelandic. Her translations include three novels in collaboration with Olaf Olafsson, as well as numerous other pieces of fiction and non-fiction,

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