I am delighted to announce that my latest book, The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days, has now been published!
Like the first Little Book of the Icelanders, this book is made up of 50 miniature essays about the quirky, strange, funny, tragic and moving aspects of life in the Iceland of old. You can read a sample here.
Among the subject broached:
- Icelanders’ fascination with elves and what those fantasies meant
- The ban on dancing and how the Icelanders of old had fun
- The systematic dissolution of families and how people coped
- Trade monopoly by Denmark and what that meant in practice
- Social structure in the old days
- How Icelanders managed to survive oppression by their colonial overlords and the church
- Racy manuscripts and verses
- Challenges of living in turf huts
- Strange customs for visiting
… and much, much more.
The illustrations in the book are by Megan Herbert, who also did the illustrations for the first Little Book of the Icelanders.
Buy The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days
→ Kindle ebook
→ ePub book
→ Hardcover book (ships from Iceland)
We have had one review so far, in Iceland Review Online:
A must for any Icelandophile. [Alda’s] knowledge and erudition shine through, and I’m not sure that this book could have been written by anyone else.
– Read the full review here.
Here is what people have been saying about the book on amazon.com:
The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days is great. It’s informative without being dry, thought-provoking without being pedantic, and droll without being buffoon-esque. The writing is sharp and clear, and Alda covers a lot of material briskly and comprehensively.
A marvelous read from beginning to end, an absolute pleasure, Alda Sigmundsóttir’s “The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days” is an hilarious and poignant tribute to her ancestors on that not-very-hospitable rock in the North Atlantic.
Even if you’ve never been to Iceland you will love this beautifully written book. It’s full of quirky stories artfully devised so that you laugh and you learn.
Read the rest of the reviews here.
Buy The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days
→ Kindle ebook
→ ePub book
→ Hardcover book (ships from Iceland)
A SPECIAL NOTE
The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days is an independently published project. To fund the production I launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. These people chipped in with extremely generous donations, and have my sincere gratitude:
