Description

He is the self-appointed sheriff of Raufarho fn, a sleepy town in northern Iceland, and has everything under control. There’s no need to worry. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays shark bait in the sea – to process the fish into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, ha karl. But inside Kalmann’s head, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of human blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But with his naive wisdom and pure-hearted courage, he makes sure everything takes a turn for the better. There’s no need to worry. “It can get pretty dark under a polar bear.” Kalmann

Publisher Review

"Schmidt's novels show a sensitivity to how the accumulation of seemingly small events makes up the drama of human life. In his recent works, he has built literary bridges between his birth country Switzerland, and Iceland, the country he lives in. In them, as elsewhere, he proves that it is by telling our shared histories and sharing our individual stories that we overcome being strangers and instead meet eye to eye as citizens of a single world." Sjo n