From The Booking Desk:
Since we are in the midst of two holiday weeks, I had planned to forgo publishing a review this week and next. However, when Ragnar Jónasson posted free access to an English-language holiday short story of his, I knew this was the perfect review to finish out the year. You can access this free story through Ragnar’s UK publisher at this link.
For most people, the holiday season is permeated with nostalgia. The same is true for the unnamed narrator of this touching story by Ragnar Jónasson. On Christmas Eve, this gentleman reflects back on meeting his true love, their efforts to make a happy life together, and the eventual loss of his beloved to death. He reminisces on the past as he sets the table for dinner near the seaside village of Siglufjördur, with the harsh Icelandic winter raging outside the window.
As with any life, theirs was filled with highs and lows. Like the harsh landscape of their country, the unforgiving panorama of the mind can take its toll. Regret plays a huge part, but what never wavered was their love for each other. With his true love lost to him, this man longs to be with her again.
With this brief story, Ragnar Jónasson taps into a universal emotion and takes it to its inevitable conclusion. This small taste of Jónasson’s writing is sure to have readers anxious to explore his longer works when they begin to appear in translated form early next year.
