Iceland's Bell (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781400034253)

From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner: At the close of the 17th century, Iceland is an oppressed Danish colony, suffering under extreme poverty, famine, and plague. A farmer and accused cord-thief named Jon Hreggvidsson makes a bawdy joke about the Danish king and soon after finds himself a fugitive charged with the murder of the king'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 "Iceland's Sun," a beautiful, headstrong young noblewoman, and Arnas Arnaeus, the king'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, Laxness creates a Dickensian canvas of heroism and venality, violence and tragedy, charged with narrative enchantment on every page.

Sometimes grim, sometimes uproarious, and always captivating, Iceland's Ball is at once an updating of the traditional Icelandic saga and a caustic social satire.

Author: Halldor Laxness
ISBN-10: 1400034256
ISBN-13: 9781400034253
Publisher: Vintage
Language: English
Published: 10/14/2003
Pages: 448
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 8.33h x 5.32w x 0.95d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2003 pg. 1245
New York Times 02/15/2004 pg. 6
New York Times 06/06/2004 pg. 27