WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023

Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize

'Enchantingly poetic . . . spellbinding . . . magical . . . exceptional' Independent

On a stark Icelandic mountainside, the imposing Reverend Baldur Skuggason hunts an elusive blue vixen for her near-mythical pelt. The treacherous journey across snow and ice will push his physical and mental endurance to the limit.

In Baldur Skuggason's parish, a young woman with Down's Syndrome is buried. After being found shackled to the timbers of a shipwreck in 1868, she was rescued by the naturalist Fridrik B. Fridjonsson. Now he will open the package she always carried with her, hoping to solve the puzzle of her origins.

As the ice begins to melt, the mystery surrounding the trio's connected fates is unravelled in this spellbinding fable, an exquisite tale of metamorphosis by one of Iceland's most acclaimed writers.

'A magical novel' Bjoerk

'Describes its world with brilliant, precise, concrete colour and detail... Comic and lyrical.'AS Byatt, The Times

About the Author
Born in Reykjavik in 1962, Sjon is the author of the novels The Blue Fox, The Whispering Muse, From the Mouth of the Whale, Moonstone and CoDex 1962, for which he has won several awards including the Nordic Council's Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize. He has also been shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and his work has been translated into thirty-five languages. In addition, Sjon has written nine poetry collections as well as four opera librettos and lyrics for various artists. He lives in Reykjavik, Iceland. Victoria Cribb has translated over thirty-five books by Icelandic authors. Her translations of Moonstone and CoDex 1962 were both longlisted for the PEN America Translation Prize and in 2017 she received the Ordstir honorary translation award for services to Icelandic literature.

Reviews
'Enchantingly poetic . . . spellbinding . . . magical . . . exceptional' * Independent *
'A magical novel' * Bjoerk *
'Describes its world with brilliant, precise, concrete colour and detail... Comic and lyrical.' * A.S. Byatt, The Times *
'A taut, poetic and beautifully judged fable.' * TLS *
'Wondrous . . . with a strange black humour at its core.' * Dazed & Confused *



Book Information
ISBN 9781529342956
Author Sjon
Format Paperback
Page Count 112
Imprint Sceptre
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Weight(grams) 87g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 10mm