Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2013, Qupperneq 39

R
E
V
IE
W
B
O
O
K
Ten years later, Ragna becomes
housekeeper for the newly arrived
English Bishop John Craxton. Tak-
ing her son Michael with her, she
moves to the Bishop’s residence,
only to discover Thorkell is there
too, working as a priest and stew-
ard. They are drawn together
again, this time in a torrid and pas-
sionate affair.
The personal dramas unfold-
ing around Hólar are woven into
actual historical events. In Icelan-
dic history, the fifteenth century is
known as the English century and
features ‘cod wars’ prior to those of
the 1970s. The English fished in the
rich Icelandic waters, traded, es-
tablished several fishing stations,
hired local people and paid well.
With wealth to be made, there were
splits, factions, fights and skir-
mishes. Amongst the perpetrators
were corrupt church officials who
used force, harassment and out-
rages in attempts to grab economic
and political control.
The book is fierce in its engage-
ment with male power and violence,
a world where men devise their
schemes and women simply obey.
While society tolerated churchmen
having mistresses and producing
illegitimate offspring, women who
broke the rules would be forever
stained. Any social power women
had is expressed through dreams,
potions, and premonitions such as
those experienced by Ragna when
she stares at a moon that turns
blood red.
The characters in the story are
well drawn. While seeing himself
as one of Christ’s most humble
brothers, the Bishop of Hólar lives
surrounded by tapestries, writing
desks, gold candle holders and cur-
tains with gold stitching. Meanwhile
many of his flock, unjustly punished
through the jurisdiction of church
law, live in hovels and wear only the
clothes they stand up in.
There’s a nice touch of humour
when the impoverished Gudridur
begs that her church fine be lifted
and curtseys before the Bishop in
deep humility and shame. When he
removes her debt, Gudridur upon
withdrawing “was more bold than
when she first arrived, being now a
debt free woman and she gave only
a half curtsy when she left.”
The tale gathers pace, there’s
action packed drama. Ragna sur-
vives it all and comes to under-
stand that love is a lesson in self-
knowledge, a tiny flame fluttering
in the darkness of the soul.
‘On the Cold Coasts,’ excel-
lently translated from the original
Icelandic into English by Alda Sig-
mundsdóttir, is a gripping read, a
real page-turner. Buy it and enjoy!
- Sylvia Hikins
Literature
The book begins with childbirth and a shipwreck. But cutting
far deeper than a simple romantic adventure story, ‘On the Cold
Coasts’ transports us back to fifteenth century Iceland where bliz-
zards start in the blink of an eye. Ragna, the teenage daughter
of a respected, land-owning lawman is seduced by an English
sailor, the sole survivor of a shipping disaster. After conceiving a
bastard child, Ragna brings disgrace on her family and is forced
to break off her engagement to Thorkell, a young man of wealth
and ambition.
THE FRESHEST FISH ....AND IDEAS!
SKÓLAVÖRÐUSTÍGUR 14 - 101 REYKJAVÍK - 571 1100
After years of study,
strings of awards and
having led kitchens of
some of Reykjavík’s most
esteemed restaurants,
Gústav still sees him
self as just a kid from
up north, with a life-
time passion for fish.
B O R G R E S TA U R A N T - P Ó S H Ú S S T R Æ T I 9 - 1 1 - 1 0 1 R E Y K J AV Í K
T E L : + 3 5 4 - 5 7 8 - 2 0 2 0 - I N F O @ B O R GRESTAURANT . I S - W W W. B O R GRESTAURANT . I S
“Out of this world!!!”
“It certainly was the best of the many places we dined in Reykjavik!”
FrequentFlyer513 - New York City, New York - Trip Advisor
CBondGirl - Calgary, Canada. Trip Advisor
k100
k60
39
On The Cold Coasts by Vilborg Davíðsdóttir
Translated by Alda Sigmundsdóttir
Publisher: Amazon Crossing 2012