Bernard Scudder Books

"Alone in the middle of the North Atlantic, Iceland is a world unto itself. It is a land co-existing with the ocean, a country of enchanting nature and dramatic contrasts--volcanoes, glaciers, lakes and waterfalls. Iceland is more than twice the size of Denmark and the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Permanently settled by Nordic people only 1,100 years ago, Iceland has developed a unique society and philosophy of life, while preserving the language and culture of its early days." -- Page [4] cover.

On a January day the Reykjavik police are called to a block of flats where a body has been found: a young boy frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The discovery of a stab wound on his stomach extinguishes any hope that this was an accident. Erlendur & his team embark on their investigation with little to go on.

At a grand Reykjavik hotel the doorman has been stabbed in the dingy basement room. As the manager tries to keep the murder under wraps, a glum detective takes up residence in his hotel. As Erlendur quietly surveys the cast of grotesques who populate the hotel, the web of malice, greed and corruption that lies beneath its surface reveals itself.

In seinem Roman erzählt der isländische Autor die Geschichte einer Neunjährigen, die zum ersten Mal das Elternhaus an der Küste Islands verläßt. Als Strafe für einen Ladendiebstahl muß sie den Sommer auf einem Bauernhof im Landesinneren verbringen. Allein unter schweigsamen Bauern deutet sie die Rätsel ihrer Umgebung und ihres neuen Lebens mit Hilfe der Phantasie. "Noch viele Tage nach der Lektüre des 'Schwan' war ich wie verzaubert. In diesem Buch werden Sie einen großen europäischen Romancier entdecken, dem es mit einzigartiger Finesse gelingt, das Leben eines heranwachsenden Mädchens einzufangen." (Milan Kundera.)