ABOUT
THE BOOK

Sigurbjorn is an architect with big dreams. In the spring of 1952, he is busy planning Iceland’s first department store. Acquiring the land in Reykjavik from his father-in-law, he begins construction in partnership with Gudbrandur, a master carpenter and friend. However, when the structure is finished and the store is about to open, his 12-year-old son is lured inside by a neighborhood man, beaten, and sexually assaulted. This work, the author’s first full-length novel available in English, chronicles how this devastating event acts like a cancer on the lives of all those it touches. Sigurbjorn’s world disintegrates with gathering speed as he questions his faith, his friendships, and his marriage. Then, having lost his business, he plummets into the abyss of a mental breakdown. Gunnarsson writes a convincing tale of complex emotions and personal histories. Readers unfamiliar with Iceland will nonetheless be drawn to this novel’s universal themes.