He is the self-appointed sheriff of Raufarhöfn, a sleepy town in northern Iceland, and has everything under control. There’s no need to worry. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays shark bait in the sea — to process the fish into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, hákarl. But inside Kalmann’s head, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of human blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But with his naive wisdom and pure-hearted courage, he makes sure everything takes a turn for the better. There’s no need to worry. "It can get pretty dark under a polar bear." Kalmann
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
ISBN: 9781913394684
Number of pages: 336
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
"Schmidt’s novels show a sensitivity to how the accumulation of seemingly small events makes up the drama of human life. In his recent works, he has built literary bridges between his birth country Switzerland, and Iceland, the country he lives in. In them, as elsewhere, he proves that it is by telling our shared histories and sharing our individual stories that we overcome being strangers and instead meet eye to eye as citizens of a single world." Sjón
You may also be interested in...
“An unforgettable narrator - like Fargo set in northern Iceland”
Kalmann is a 30-something man who hunts Greenland sharks and lives in an isolated Icelandic village where he is the self-appointed local sheriff. The story is told from Kalmann's point of view, and the reader... More
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?