Would you murder your brothers to keep them from telling the truth about themselves?

On a long, cold Icelandic night in March 1920, Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith, finds himself with an unwanted lodger - Sigurd, an injured stranger who offers a story from the past. But some stories, even those of an old man who can barely walk, are too dangerous to hear. They alter the listeners’ lives forever… by ending them.

Others are keen on changing Gunnar’s life as well. Depending on who gets to tell his story, it might lead towards an unwanted marriage, an intervention, rejoining the Church, letting the elf drive him insane, or succumbing to the demons in his mind. Will he manage to write his own last chapter?

Bjorn Larssen’s award-winning novel is an otherworldly, emotive Icelandic saga - a story of love and loneliness, relief and suffering, hatred… and hope.

Addictive to the extreme. I cannot praise this book enough. - Mary Anne Yarde, Coffee Pot Book Club

…the ‘then’ is just as captivating as the ‘now’ story. We know that the ‘then’ story is setting out little clues, but it’s hard to know what they are. - #DDRevs Historical Fiction Reviews

Discovering Diamonds’ Discovered Diamond Winner, shortlisted for Book of the Month
Coffee Pot Book Club Award Winner
Coffee Pot Book Club Historical Fiction (Modern) Book of the Year - Honourable Mention
Readers’ Choice Best Cover Award Winner
Readers’ Favourite Five-Stars Pick

Note: British English conventions, spelling, and grammar were used in this book.

The author is an ex-blacksmith, lover of all things Icelandic, physically located in Amsterdam, spiritually living in a log cabin near Akureyri. He has published stories and essays in Polish and American magazines, both online and in print. This is his first novel.