Bjartur is a sheep farmer. After 18 years of servitude to a master he despises, he desires to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. Only Asta, the child he brings up, can pierce his rebatative soul, but she wishes to live unbeholden to him.
Quite a weighty tome that took some getting through but I think worth it overall. On the front of my copy Annie Proulx is quoted as saying the book is funny. Hmm. Maybe in a couple of places, but it's a very dark humour. I found it an unrelentingly grim family saga but very interesting on Icelandic politics of the time. It is set around 1900 to about 1929 on a sheep farm in rural Iceland and follows the (mis)fortunes of the sheep farmer.
