Lit in Translation

Woman at 1,000 Degrees

Konan við 1000°

Hallgrímur Helgason (born 1959)

Translated by Brian FitzGibbon

English editions

In English

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Herbjörg María Björnsson is eighty, frail and living alone in a garage in eastern Reykjavík. Her only company is her laptop and an old hand grenade that has been with her since the war years. She plans her death and books an appointment at the crematorium while chatting with the trusty god of memory. People, events and escapades from an eventful life come back to her, a life that took her from the isolation of Iceland to war-torn Europe and further out into the world, from the finest parties to the deepest misery, before she returned to tell the story that spares no one.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Length
477 pages in the original
Genres
Historical, War, Family (assigned by AI)
Set in
Iceland
First published
2011 by JPV
Author's age
52 when first published
ISBN

9781616206239 (Algonquin Books, United States)

9781786074553 (Oneworld, United Kingdom)

9781616208660 (Algonquin Books, United States)

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Wikidata