The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine

The Prophets of Eternal Fjord

Kim Leine

A sensory assault into an inhospitable Greenland that seamlessly combines a hallucinatory, imaginative world with colonial history. The multi-stranded, audacious narrative has an intense emotional urgency that is somehow exhilarating despite the stark storytelling and enigmatic main protagonist. You may be shocked but will also appreciate the beauty.

Extract
He hears the salute from the shore, a feeble splutter of the colony cannon and voices that cry hurrah. He hears the anchor cast, the rope run over the side. He feels the vessel turn and settle. Boots trample back and forth on the deck above him. The unloading commences. The rowing boat is swung out and gently buffets the side of the vessel. He hears Roselil low at the top of her lungs. The colony bell tolls without pause.
He lies on his back on the bunk. He has folded his hands. He looks up at the ceiling. This cabin, this ship, is still Danish ground. Invisible threads run all the way back from here to Denmark, and further still, to the home of his childhood. As yet he remains unreleased. There is still a chain. But once he steps ashore it will be broken and he will be free.
Parallels
  • Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
  • Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney
  • The Thrall’s Tale by Judith Lindbergh