HalldÃ³r Laxness,Philip Roughton,Adam Haslett
Sometimes grim, sometimes uproarious, and always captivating, ,Icelandâ€™s Bell, by Nobel Laureate HalldÃ³r Laxness is at once an updating of the traditional Icelandic saga and a caustic social satire. At the close of the 17th century, Iceland is an oppressed Danish colony, suffering from extreme poverty, famine, and plague. A farmer and accused cord-thief named Jon Hreggvidsson makes an improper joke about the Danish king and soon after finds himself a fugitive charged with the murder of the kingâ€™s hangman.,In the years that follow, the hapless but resilient rogue Hreggvidsson becomes a pawn entangled in political and personal conflicts playing out on a far grander scale. Chief among these is the star-crossed love affair between Snaefridur, known as â€œIcelandâ€™s Sun,â€ a beautiful, headstrong young noblewoman, and Arnas Arnaeus, the kingâ€™s antiquarian, an aristocrat whose worldly manner conceals a fierce devotion to his downtrodden countrymen. As their personal struggle plays itself out on an international stage, ,Icelandâ€™s Bell, ,creates a Dickensian canvas of heroism and venality, violence and tragedy, charged with narrative enchantment on every page.
Fiction,Historical,Historical Fiction,European Literature,Scandinavian Literature,Classics,Nobel Prize,Literary Fiction,Literature,Literature,20th Century,Travel,Novels
Iceland's Bell