The Blue Fox - by Sjón (Paperback)

About the Book

Set against the stark backdrop of the Icelandic winter landscape, the mysterious blue fox is an elusive, enigmatic target for hunters like Baldur, a 19th-century priest who has profound influence over his rural community and is now seeking to extend his dominion.

Book Synopsis

Named one The 50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Esquire

Winner of the 2005 Nordic Council Literature Prize--the Nordic world's highest literary honor-- Sjón's
The Blue Fox is part mystery, part fairy tale, and the perfect introduction to a mind-bending, world-class literary talent.

Set against the stark backdrop of the Icelandic winter, an elusive, enigmatic fox leads a hunter on a transformative quest. At the edge of the hunter's territory, a naturalist struggles to build a life for his charge, a young woman with Down syndrome whom he had rescued from a shipwreck years before. By the end of Sjón's slender, spellbinding fable of a novel, none of their lives will be the same.

Review Quotes

"When I need something epic and lyrical I call upon Sjón . . . The Blue Fox is a magical novel." --Björk

"The Blue Fox describes its world with brilliant, precise, concrete colour and detail . . . Comic and lyrical." --A. S. Byatt, The Times (London)

"Enchantingly poetic . . . Spellbinding . . . Magical . . . Exceptional . . . Require[s] that one use the loose descriptive 'thriller' too." --Nuruddin Farah, The Independent

About the Author

Sjón is the author of, among other works, From the Mouth of the Whale and The Whispering Muse. Born in Reykjavík in 1962, he is an award-winning novelist, poet, and playwright. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Also a lyricist, he has written songs for Björk, including for her most recent project, Biophilia, and was nominated for an Oscar for the lyrics he cowrote (with Lars von Trier) for Dancer in the Dark. He lives in Reykjavík.