The Prophets of Eternal Fjord
By (Author) Kim Leine Rasmussen
Translated by Martin Aitken
Atlantic Books
Atlantic Books
7th January 2016
Main
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Fiction in translation
839.8138
Short-listed for International Dublin Literary Award 2017
576
Width 156mm, Height 234mm, Spine 40mm
780g
Idealistic, misguided Morten Falck is a newly ordained priest sailing to Greenland in 1787 to convert the Inuit to the Danish church. A rugged outpost battered by harsh winters, Sukkertoppen is overshadowed by the threat of dissent; natives from neighboring villages have united to reject Danish rule and establish their own settlement atop Eternal Fjord. As Falck becomes involved with those in his care -- his ambitious catechist, a lonely trader's wife, and a fatalistic widow he comes to love -- his faith and reputation are dangerously called into question.
An astonishing, hallucinatory journey into the frozen heart of Denmark's colonial darkness... A fervid, exhilarating evocation of faith versus hypocrisy, empathy versus dislocation and desperate rebellion versus grim destiny, The Prophets of Eternal Fjord is a slow-release depth charge of a novel whose reverberations bear the terrible poignancy of global and timely relevance * Guardian *
Superb... A raw, hugely powerful chronicle of lives lived on the edge... The Prophets of Eternal Fjord has a grandeur and a compass that few novels this year will match * Sunday Times *
Gripping... A milestone, a masterpiece * Information (Denmark) *
The result of this novel is symphonic: politics, history, sexuality, and religion deftly interwoven. The combination is perfectly balanced, fascinating, and irresistible * Le Monde (France) *
Kim Leine is a Danish-Norwegian novelist. He received the Golden Laurel award and the Nordic Council's Literature Prize for his fourth novel, The Prophets of Eternal Fjord. Martin Aitken is an acclaimed Danish-language translator.