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WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023
'A book like a blade of light, searching out and illuminating the darkest corners of history . . . It's vivid, unputdownable, alive, and written with unerring artfulness and subtlety.' Neel Mukherjee
Gunnar Kampen grows up in Reykjavík during the Second World War in a household fiercely opposed to Hitler and Nazism. A caring brother and son, at nineteen he seems set to lead a conventional life. Yet in the spring of 1958, he founds a covert, anti-Semitic nationalist party with ties to a burgeoning international network of neo-Nazis - a cause that will take him on a clandestine mission to England from which he never returns.
In this striking novel, inspired by one of the ringleaders of an Icelandic neo-Nazi group formed in the late 1950s, Sjón masterfully constructs the portrait of an ordinary young man who becomes a right-wing zealot. Exposing the roots of the far-right movements of today, Red Milk is a timely reminder that the seeds of extremism can be hard to detect and the allure of fascism remains dangerously potent.
About the author
Born in Reykjavík in 1962, Sjón is the author of the novels The Blue Fox, The Whispering Muse, From the Mouth of the Whale, Moonstone and CoDex 1962, for which he has won several awards including the Nordic Council's Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize. He has also been shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and his work has been translated into thirty-five languages.
In addition, Sjón has written nine poetry collections as well as four opera librettos and lyrics for various artists. He lives in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Victoria Cribb has translated over thirty-five books by Icelandic authors. Her translations of Moonstone and CoDex 1962 were both longlisted for the PEN America Translation Prize and in 2017 she received the Ordstír honorary translation award for services to Icelandic literature.
Summary
By the internationally acclaimed Icelandic writer Sjón, a timely novel about a young neo-Nazi in post-WWII Iceland and the roots of the far-right global networks of today.
Foreword
By the internationally acclaimed Icelandic writer Sjón, a timely novel about a young neo-Nazi in post-WWII Iceland and the roots of the far-right global networks of today.
Additional text
Sjón's prose is appropriately sharp and precise, illuminating the murky corners of his topic.
Report
Sjón's policy of omission-of drama, psychology, violence, grandeur of any kind-results in a delicious tension. He tempts us to expect so much of the novel, and though he never provides the relief of clean culminations, he manages to keep the reader wanting. Asymptote Journal
