Solveig Eggerz
 "In this fierce and poignant novel Solveig Eggerz deftly transports her readers between Iceland in the fifties and Germany in the thirties and forties as heroine, Charlotte, struggles to come to terms with her past and present. Seal Woman is rich in vivid detail and psychological understanding. A beautiful and suspenseful debut." -Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street "Set in the tough but beautiful landscape of Iceland, a wonderfully written story about the triumph of love, strength, and art over crippling loss." -Barbara Esstman, author of A More Perfect Union |
A native of Iceland, I've carried the stories my forefathers told in my heart all my life. My great-great grandfather, Frišrik Eggerz, a farmer and a protestant minister, wrote his autobiography when he was in his eighties, a book that documented 19th century Icelandic regional history; my grandfather, Siguršur Eggerz, twice prime minister, wrote plays and essays. My father, Pétur Eggerz, a foreign service officer, wrote fiction and non-fiction until the day he died at age 80.  Seal Woman is set in Iceland, Germany, and Poland, 1928-1959. In the late 1940s some 300 Germans, most of them women, fled bombed-out German cities and crossed the North Atlantic Ocean in small ships and trawlers to work on farms in a rugged country. They were responding to an advertisement placed by Icelandic farmers for laborers. Culture shock? In some cases it meant coming from indoor plumbing to sharing a bathroom stall with a cow. Charlotte leaves Berlin, but living by the sea, she faces a new struggle for survival. Published May 2008 by Ghost Road Press. |
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