The Woman at 1,000 Degrees
Author: Helgason, Hallgrimur
ISBN: 9781786074553
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year first published: 04 Feb 2019
Pages: 464
Format: Paperback / softback
I live here alone in a garage, together with a laptop and an old hand grenade. It 's pretty cosy. '
And...she 's off. Eighty-year-old Herra Bjurnsson lies alone in her garage waiting to die. One of the most original narrators in literary history, she takes readers with her on a dazzling ride of a novel as she reflects in a voice by turns darkly funny, bawdy, poignant, and always, always smart on the mishaps, tragedies and turns of luck that shaped her life.
Born into a prominent political family, Herra 's idyllic childhood in the islands of western Iceland was brought to an abrupt end when her father foolishly cast his lot with a Hitler on the rise. Separated from her mother, and with her father away at war, she finds herself abandoned and alone in war-torn Germany, relying on her wits and occasional good fortune to survive. Now, with death approaching, forced to hack into her sons ' emails to have any contact with them at all, Herra decides to take control of her destiny and sets a date for her own cremation at a temperature of 1,000 degrees.
In this international bestseller, Hallgramur Helgason invites readers on a journey that is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, and which ultimately tells the deeply moving story of a woman swept up by the forces of history.
ISBN: 9781786074553
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year first published: 04 Feb 2019
Pages: 464
Format: Paperback / softback
I live here alone in a garage, together with a laptop and an old hand grenade. It 's pretty cosy. '
And...she 's off. Eighty-year-old Herra Bjurnsson lies alone in her garage waiting to die. One of the most original narrators in literary history, she takes readers with her on a dazzling ride of a novel as she reflects in a voice by turns darkly funny, bawdy, poignant, and always, always smart on the mishaps, tragedies and turns of luck that shaped her life.
Born into a prominent political family, Herra 's idyllic childhood in the islands of western Iceland was brought to an abrupt end when her father foolishly cast his lot with a Hitler on the rise. Separated from her mother, and with her father away at war, she finds herself abandoned and alone in war-torn Germany, relying on her wits and occasional good fortune to survive. Now, with death approaching, forced to hack into her sons ' emails to have any contact with them at all, Herra decides to take control of her destiny and sets a date for her own cremation at a temperature of 1,000 degrees.
In this international bestseller, Hallgramur Helgason invites readers on a journey that is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, and which ultimately tells the deeply moving story of a woman swept up by the forces of history.
