In a remote part of Icel&, a boy & his friend Barethur join a boat to fish for cod. A winter storm surprises them out at sea & Barethur who has forgotten his waterproof as he was too absorbed in ” Paradise Lost”, succumbs to the ferocious cold & dies. Appalled by the death & by the fishermen`s callous ability to set about gutting the fatal catch, the boy leaves the village, intending to return the book to its owner. The extreme hardship & danger of the journey is of little consequence to him
- he has already resolved to join his friend in death. But once in the town he immerses himself in the stories & lives of its inhabitants, & decides that he cannot be with his friend just yet. Set at the turn of the twentieth century, Heaven & Hell is a perfectly formed, vivid & timeless story, lyrical in style, & as intense a reading experience as the forces of the Icelandic landscape themselves. An outstandingly moving novel.