Saga Land: The Island Stories at the Edge of the World

Description

'I adored this book - a wondrous compendium of Iceland's best sagas' - Hannah Kent A new friendship. An unforgettable journey. A beautiful and bloody history.This is Iceland as you've never read it before ... Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kari Gislason are good friends. They share a deep attachment to the sagas of Iceland - the true stories of the first Viking families who settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages.These are tales of blood feuds, of dangerous women, and people who are compelled to kill the ones they love the most. The sagas are among the greatest stories ever written, but the identity of their authors is largely unknown. Together, Richard and Kari travel across Iceland, to the places where the sagas unfolded a thousand years ago. They cross fields, streams and fjords to immerse themselves in the folklore of this fiercely beautiful island. And there is another mission: to resolve a longstanding family mystery - a gift from Kari's Icelandic father that might connect him to the greatest of the saga authors.

Writer-broadcaster Richard Fidler is the author of the bestselling books The Golden Maze and Ghost Empire, and co-author of the bestselling Saga Land with Kari Gislason. Fidler presents 'Conversations', an in-depth, up-close-and-personal interview program. 'Conversations' is broadcast across Australia on ABC Radio and podcast all over the world to millions of listeners. Kari Gislason is a writer and academic who lectures in Creative Writing at QUT. Kari was awarded a doctorate in 2003 for his thesis on medieval Icelandic literature. He is the author of The Promise of Iceland and The Ash Burner. As well as memoir and fiction, he also publishes scholarly articles, travel writing and reviews.