When the Americans make an offer to buy land in Iceland to build a NATO airbase after the Second World War, a storm of protest is provoked throughout the country. Narrated by a country girl from the north, the novel follows her experiences after she takes up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. Her observations and experiences expose the bourgeois society of the south as rootless and shallow and in stark contrast to the age-old culture of the solid and less fanciful north.

'The Atom Station is the work of someone who has seen every cherished dream sold down the river, but who loves humanity too much to despair. His heroine refuses to be bullied or bought, a feminist before her time, full of curiosity and spirit' Guardian

'Laxness has been hailed as Iceland's John Steinbeck, Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair combined. His is a significant voice in world literature' Magnus Magnusson

About the Author
Halldor Laxness (1908-98) was born near Reykjavik, Iceland. His first novel was published when he was seventeen. The undisputed master of contemporary Icelandic fiction and one of the outstanding novelists of the twentieth-century, he wrote more than sixty books. Laxness was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.

Reviews
The Atom Station is the work of someone who has seen every cherished dream sold down the river, but who loves humanity too much to despair. His heroine refuses to be bullied or bought, a feminist before her time, full of curiosity and spirit * Guardian *
Laxness is a poet who writes to the edges of the pages, a visionary who allows us a plot. * Daily Telegraph *
An extraordinary book, brimming with little wisdoms, funny episodes, sharp phrases...and a determined optimism of spirit * The Times *
Laxness was a genius * New York Review of Books *
Magnus Magnusson's translation reads smoothly and skilfully renders Laxness's dry and quirky wit * Times Literary Supplement *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099455158
Author Halldor Laxness
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Vintage Classics
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 170g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 14mm