Description

An astonishing mind-bending novel about a woman’s discovery of a community of swan-people from one of Iceland’s greatest writers.

In the not-too-distant future, a young spy named Elisabet Eva is about to discover something that will upend her carefully controlled life.

Elisabet’s work is the lynchpin of her existence in the city; her friends and social life centre around the Special Unit. But recently Elisabet has found herself taking long solitary walks near the lake. One day, she sees two creatures emerging from the water, half-human, half-swan. She follows them through tangles of thickets into a strange new reality.

Elisabet’s walks turn into regular visits to these swan women, who reveal to her the enigma of their secret existence, and their deepest desires. Pulled further and further into the monomaniacal, and often violent, quest of the swanfolk she finds her own mind increasingly untrustworthy. Ultimately, Elisabet is forced to reckon with both the consequences of her involvement with these unusual beings and a past life she has been trying to evade.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE ICELANDIC WOMEN’S LITERATURE PRIZE*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE OXFORD WEIDENFELD PRIZE*

PRAISE FOR KRISTIN OMARSDOTTIR:
‘Omarsdottir’s skills as a poet and playwright are evident’ Helen Oyeyemi, New York Review of Books

Publisher Review

One of the most original authors in contemporary Icelandic literature...known for subverting traditional binaries like fantasy and realism, feminine and masculine, good and evil, and the animal and the human. * Ord um baekur * One of [this country's] most respected authors. -- Egill Helgason * Kiljan * A master of the unexpected. -- Steingerdur Steinsdottir * Vikan * Kristin is a singular author...she is in a league of her own. -- Fridrika Benonysdottir * Kiljan * Kristin does everything at once - enchants, terrifies, devastates and delights. -- Ulfhildur Dagsdottir * Bokmenntavefurinn * She approaches taboos with complete irreverence, as if they don't hinder her at all. -- Andri Snaer Magnason, author of LoveStar With enchanting style and perfect conviction Kristin leads the reader into a dreamworld that is so lifelike that we don't know whether we are in a bad dream or a terrifying nightmare. -- Gauti Kristmannsson * Vidsja * A many-layered novel that immediately grips the reader... makes us think about what it is to be human and the borders that people invent to distinguish themselves from others and to trap themselves. * The Icelandic Women's Literature Prize * An examination of humanity and of language - man's most distinctive feature - and how it serves us in defining ourselves and the world around us. -- Marianna Clara Luthersdottir * Bokmenntavefurinn *