Freyja
On behalf of: Spiegel & Grau
The unsolved case of a young girl’s disappearance reopens after twenty years in this moody, atmospheric debut of suspense set in Reykjavík and the Icelandic coast.
Unnur has secrets. A single mother to a beloved daughter, Lilja, she lives a deliberately quiet life in Reykjavík, working at a bakery under an assumed last name and pushing away haunting visions of the last summer of her childhood. Her safety—and Lilja’s—now hinges on discretion. But when her ex-husband returns to Iceland and brings with him a new girlfriend, who seems to know more about Unnur than she’s letting on, Unnur may finally have to face what happened long ago on a black sand beach in the remote Dark Valley—and the possibility that she herself might be responsible for her otherworldly friend Freyja’s disappearance.
As a cold case investigation is launched and the intricate threads of past and present begin to entangle, Unnur must race to recover the broken memory of what happened all those years ago, or risk losing her own daughter. Steeped in stories from Icelandic folklore and myth, Freyja is at once a gripping story of a child’s disappearance, a testament to the power of a mother’s love, and an enthralling tale of redemption and forgiveness from a gifted new voice.
Reviews
“An eerie novel that will keep you up late into the night. Unnur is desperate to escape the past and protect her young daughter, but she will learn that memory is fickle and changelings lurk in the shadows. Margrét Ann Thors beautifully evokes Iceland, with its cold winds, wave-battered cliffs, and mysterious folk tales. Gripping and heartfelt.”
—Eowyn Ivey, New York Times bestselling author of The Snow Child and Black Woods, Blue Sky
“In haunting, razor-sharp prose, Thors conjures a vivid portrait of motherhood and myth, testing just how far the ties that bind us to our families, our histories, and our cultures can be stretched until they snap. Like the Icelandic winter storm, Freyja will chill you to the bone, and have you grasping in the cold, dark night for a guiding hand—though you probably shouldn’t trust whatever reaches for you, all the same.”
—Melissa Larsen, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost House