From the Mouth of the Whale
Sjón, winner of the prestigious Nordic Council’s Literature Prize and an Oscar nominee for his musical work with Björk, presents a lyrical novel set in seventeenth-century Iceland, where poet Jónas Pálmason lives in exile on barren Gullbjörn’s Island. Here, with a sandpiper as his only companion, Jónas recalls the varied events and misfortunes of his life while ruminating upon the origins of nature, humanity, and his perpetual thirst for knowledge. A self-taught healer, Jónas hones his craft to treat women’s various ailments. He also recollects subsequent events, from his marriage to his beloved Sigga, who later joins him in exile, to a particularly memorable exorcism of the corpse of a parson’s son, to a harrowing massacre of Basque whalers by fellow villagers. As life in exile begins to wear on Jónas, he is transferred to Copenhagen, where he joins doctor and philosopher Ole Worm to study scientific writings and drawings. Jónas is finally able to experience the freedom, however fleeting, he so desires. Intense and enigmatic, Jónas’  tale unfolds with the power of both myth and memory. --Leah Strauss