The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2009, Page 44

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 62 #2
Book Reviews
The Tricking of Freya
Christina Suoley
The Tricking of Freya
By Christina Sunley
St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY2009
Reviewed by Kristine Perlmutter
The publication of Christina Sunley’s
debut novel, The Tricking of Freya, in
March coincided with Women’s History
Month. This is fitting as both celebrate the
role of women in keeping the histories and
cultures of their families alive and handing
down their heritage through storytelling,
traditions, recipes, family treasures and
heirlooms. It is interesting that, in the days
of hand weaving in Scandinavia, one of the
tools of the spinner was the distaff and the
goddesses Frigg (who knows the fate of
men) and Freya (the teacher of magic) were
associated with spinning. Today, the
“distaff side” of a family refers to the
maternal line (a person's mother and her
blood relatives). As I read Sunley’s finely
crafted work, I felt as though I was wit-
nessing the weaving of a tapestry. Weaving
begins with spinning and a fine tale has
been spun here that illuminates the ways of
Our People.
Our narrator, Freya Morris, is a young
woman on a journey through her family’s
history. While her inner and outer quest to
make sense of her family, her past and an
unfortunate accident make a compelling
read, there is much more here than a mys-
tery and a chronicle of self-discovery.
The young Freya and her mother make
the journey to Gimli, Manitoba to make
connections with her mother’s family, cen-
tral to which is her unbalanced Aunt
Birdie. Birdie contributes a variety of pig-
ments to the tapestry depending on her
moods—exuberant to despondent. She
begins the lessons in the Icelandic language
and cultural values that she deems essential
for Freya and, when Freya is 13, travels
with her to Iceland. Freya and Birdie trav-
el through the Icelandic landscape- geo-
graphical, literary, mythical, sociological,
political, historical, scientific, artistic and
poetic. Freya is pulled into the magical web
of Iceland itself and finds her first love.
Birdie searches for lost letters written by
her famous poet father, Skald Nyja Islands,
and hopes to find approval for “Word
Meadow,” the poem in which she has
invested so much time, energy and hope.
Sunley’s feeling for the warp and weft
of the tapestry that is the Icelandic culture