This is the tale of Alfgrim, an abandoned child, left in the turf-and-stone cottage of Bjorn of Brekkukot on the outskirts of what is now Reykjavik. The central motif is the dichotomy between a  genuine and unassuming way of life in an old homestead and the misguided pursuit after fraudulent renown. One of Laxness’ most endearing and many-faceted novels with a large 1collection of unforgettable individuals.

“One of the greatest novelists of the 20th century.”
DIE WELT

“Laxness is a poet who writes to the edge of the pages, a visionary who allows us a plot: he takes a Tolstoyan overview, he weaves in an Evelyn Waugh-like humour: it is not possible to be unimpressed.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH

“This weird and wonderful novel, about the price you pay for ‘the one true note’, is Laxness at his best: a reminder of the mad hilarity of the Icelandic sensibility. An endearing and unforgettable voice.”
NICHOLAS SHAKESPEARE

“It is a novel (a world) that transmits something of the wonder of life, its strangeness, its goodness, ocassions for stubbornness, and the stoicism of people – people everywhere.”
MURRAY BAIL

“Laxness’s view of a child’s bounded universe has humour and a light touch.”
GUARDIAN

“One of the world’s most unusual, skilled and visionary novelists.”
JANE SMILEY