Summer light, and then comes the night A novel

"Why do we live?" In this 2005 Icelandic Literary Prize--winning novel, Stefánsson plumbs the stories of "a small village in a country that's far from everything except eternal winter" for answers. "Over-powering" summer light and the relentless dark of winter arrive with flocks of migratory birds as ordinary people go about their lives, "stuck fast in the magnetic field of habit." Some are content; others long to break away. In the darkness, they dream, freed from time and conscience. A wise, gossipy Greek chorus looks into their hearts and tells all. Stefánsson is a superb storyteller with a metaphysical bent. He draws characters with empathy and wit, and frames their condition in existential dichotomies: modernity versus the past, mystical versus rational, destiny versus coincidence. A mix of casual and poetic imagery animates the philosophical point. Sometimes existence is coffee, crullers, and shipping pallets, and sometimes it is the "sky blowing Its bluesy harmonica for someone else." So, why do we live? Stefánsson suggests our purpose lies in endlessly seeking the answer.

Stefánsson (Fish Have No Feet) delivers a delightfully dishy look at a small Icelandic village in the 1990s. A first-person-plural narration ties things together: "We're not going to tell you about the whole village.... You would find that intolerable. But we'll definitely be telling you about the lust that binds together days and nights." The director of the village's primary employer, the Knitting Company, began dreaming in Latin many years earlier, prompting him to collect rare books and deliver lectures to the community, earning him the name "the Astronomer." The Astronomer's son, Davíð, works with the hefty Kjartan at the village depot, which may be haunted by the ghosts of murdered lovers from the 1800s. Kjartan, though married with children, falls for neighboring farmer Kristín. Elísabet, an employee at the Knitting Company, opens a restaurant, much to the ire of the village's unemployed women, who claim she was unfairly advantaged. Throughout, the group focus turns from one resident to the next. There's no overarching narrative, but it adds up to an immersive and funny portrait of a community whose members squabble and celebrate in equal measure. Readers will be hooked by the mishmash of neighborhood gossip. Agent: Monica Gram, Copenhagen Literary Agency. (Sept.)