Icelandic author Svava Jakobsdóttir’s novel Gunnlöth’s Tale (Gunnladarsaga) has been published by Norvik Press in the UK in the translation of Oliver Watts, as announced this week.
In a press release, the plot is described thus:
“In the 1980s, a hardworking Icelandic businesswoman and her teenage daughter Dís, who has been arrested for apparently committing a strange and senseless robbery, are unwittingly drawn into a ritual-bound world of goddesses, sacrificial priests, golden thrones, clashing crags and kings-in-waiting. It is said that Gunnlöth was seduced by Odin so he could win the ‘mead’ of poetry from her, but is that really true, and why was Dís summoned to their world?”
Svava Jakobsdóttir (1930-2004) was among Iceland’s foremost authors in the past century and a pioneer among feminist politicians. She served as a parliamentarian from 1971 to 1979 for the left-wing People’s Alliance.
Her feminist views influenced her award-winning writing; Gunnladarsaga is among her best known novels.
ESA
