Tryggvi Emilsson‘s three-volume autobiography ensures that his name will be remembered. It‘s an important source of information about the life and struggle of the working class in Iceland in the 20th century. The books, titled Fátækt fólk (Poor People), Baráttan um brauðið (The Struggle for Bread) and Fyrir sunnan (Down South), were published between 1976 and 1979. The first two were nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize.

When it was first published in 1976, Poor People inspired a great deal of interest and discussion among readers, not only for its brilliant use of language, the remarkable rendering of its characters, and its overall style, but more particularly for the extraordinary story it told. This is the story of the poor in Iceland before the age of social welfare, back when it was possible to deprive hungry families with many children of food because the wealthy merchant needed his payment. Back when small children were indentured into strangers’ service, when no one thought twice about sending hungry youngsters on a two-day walk to the nearest general store in terrible weather so that they might try to get provisions on credit.

Emilsons’s account of his youth in Iceland in the early 20th century—including the loss of his mother, and the awful time he spent in service as a child—has lost none of its power and magic today. In fact, its message may be even more vital now than when the book was first published.

“It’s strange, but although this is assuredly a tear-jerker, it’s still pretty an ‘enjoyable read.’ […]
And in spite of its dark sides, it’s lovely. I give myself leave to call it ‘sorrowfully beautiful.”
POET KRISTJAN FRA DJUPALAEK, DAGUR DAILY

“This book provides truly compelling evidence that the childhoods of Asta Sollilja, (a character in Independent People by Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness) and Maxim Gorky are far closer to us in history than we generally realize.”
THJODVILJINN DAILY