The Blue Fox (M)
by Sjón ; translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb
"In January 1883 in Iceland, Everything . . . is blue. Rural pastor Baldur Skuggason hunts a fox for its pelt, which he will sell to supplement his meager income. The herbalist Fridrik B. Fridjonsson is completing a hoax on Baldur that has allowed him, Herb-Fridrik, to bury his longtime assistant, who had Down syndrome, with more reverence than the grumpy, prejudiced minister ever could show. A flashback showing how Herb-Fridrik met his helper completes the action of this short novel by poet and pop-music lyricist (most famously for Iceland's international star, Bjork) Sjon.
The tale is tinged by metamorphoses, however, of animal into human and vice versa, and it is written primarily in the spare, concrete diction of nature poetry indeed, its opening section looks like a sequence of prose poems. Leavened by dry rural humor in the characters' speech and thoughts, it is magnetically readable." - Booklist Last Rituals : an Icelandic novel of secret symbols, medieval witchcraft, and modern murder (M)
by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir ; translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder.
"A new Icelandic mystery invites comparison with Arnaldur Indridason's crime fiction (Voices), but this title bears little resemblance. Thora is a thirtysomething divorcee, mother of two, and a partner in a small law firm. She is reluctantly drawn into a murder investigation when approached by the Guntlieb family, whose son, Harald, was killed at the university. |
| Photo: Atli Mar Hafsteinsson |
House of Evidence (M)
by Viktor Arnar Ingolffson ; translated by Björg Árnadóttir and Andrew Cauthery
"Readers craving the bleak atmosphere, strong sense of place, and spare
delivery that often define fiction from the northern climes, such as
that of Larsson and Mankell, are in for a treat with this angst-fueled
Icelandic mystery. Jacob Kieler Jr. dies from a gunshot wound to the
chest in the same room where his father was shot more than 30 years
earlier. No killer and no weapon were found in the first death, and the
same gun was used in both cases.
Johann Palsson and his team of
variously troubled detectives learn that Jacob Sr. spent his entire life
trying to build a railroad across Iceland, as he relates in his
diaries, and his son's life was focused on keeping the family home
exactly as it was in his childhood. They make poor candidates for
murder. As the investigation proceeds, clues are few and disparate, and
there is an overall sense of approaching doom. Prepare for a zinger." - BooklistThe Greenhouse (M)
by Audur Ava Olafsdottir ; translated [from the Icelandic] by Brian FitzGibbon
"Following the death of his mother, whose beloved greenhouse was home to
rare roses, 22-year-old Lobbi leaves his elderly father and autistic
twin brother behind in his native Iceland to take a job restoring a
medieval rose garden at a European monastery. He is also leaving behind
Flora Sol, his infant daughter, the result of a meaningless
one-night-stand with Anna, a young woman determined to pursue her
university degree in spite of her single motherhood.
Arriving at the
monastery after a tempestuous journey that involves unexpected surgery
and an otherworldly drive through mystical forests, Lobbi adjusts to his
new life, where he engages in self-contemplation with the help of a
monk who is most comfortable giving advice through the viewing of
movies. When Anna and Flora Sol suddenly appear, Lobbi is finally able
to appreciate what it means to be a father and son, friend and tender of
souls, both human and floral. Buoyed by FitzGibbon's luminous
translation, Olafsdottir's internationally award-winning tale is a
melancholy yet moving portrait of a young man struggling to make sense
of unconventional relationships and responsibilities." - Booklist
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