A Fist or a Heart

Written by Kristín Eiríksdóttir

Narrated by Janet Metzger

The past returns with a fury for a woman coming to terms with her life in this award-winning novel by an acclaimed Icelandic author making her English-language debut.

Elín Jónsdóttir lives an isolated existence in Reykjavík, Iceland, making props and prosthetics for theatrical productions and Nordic crime flicks. In her early seventies, she has recently become fascinated with another loner, Ellen Álfsdóttir, a sensitive young playwright and illegitimate daughter of a famous writer. The girl has aroused maternal feelings in Elín, but she has also stirred discomfiting memories long packed away. Because their paths have crossed before. One doesn’t remember. The other is about to forget.

Soon they’ll discover all they have in common: difficult childhoods, trauma, and being outliers who have found space to breathe in creative expression. Yet the more Elín tries to connect with the young woman and unbox painful memories, the more tenuous her grasp on reality becomes.

Winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize, A Fist or a Heart is a gripping, artfully interwoven novel of power, secrets, and isolation by one of the most bracing and original voices of the author’s generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Translator: Larissa Kyzer
• Release date: Sep 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781978659384

Kristín Eiríksdóttir

Kristín Eiríksdóttir is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, poet, and playwright from Reykjavík, Iceland. Her original edition of A Fist or a Heart won the Icelandic Literary Prize 2017 as well as the Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize 2018, and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2019. The novel took second place for the Icelandic Booksellers’ Prize and was selected as one of the best novels of 2017 by the Icelandic National Radio. Eiríksdóttir has published seven books and had three plays staged. Her short fiction has appeared in Best European Fiction 2011. A Fist or a Heart is her first novel to be translated into English.

Reviews for A Fist or a Heart

[alanteder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Elín, againReview of the Amazon Crossing paperback (2019) English translation of the Icelandic original "Elín, ýmislegt" (Elín, miscellaneous) (2017)This was a full reading of the print edition, which I had previously only occasionally referred to during a listening of the Audible Audio edition last month. I had the same favourable impression, finding it just as intriguing. It was definitely easier to follow on a re-read having the previous familiarity and not being distracted or confused by the audio similarity of the Elín, Ellen and Helen names.