Fist or a Heart

Kristín Eiríksdóttir is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, poet, and playwright from Reykjavík, Iceland. Her original edition of A Fist or a Heart won the Icelandic Literary Prize 2017 as well as the Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize 2018, and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2019. The novel took second place for the Icelandic Booksellers’ Prize and was selected as one of the best novels of 2017 by the Icelandic National Radio. Eiríksdóttir has published seven books and had three plays staged. Her short fiction has appeared in Best European Fiction 2011. A Fist or a Heart is her first novel to be translated into English.Larissa Kyzer is a writer and translator. She holds an MS in library and information science and a BA in comparative literature. In 2012, she received a Fulbright grant to Iceland, where she lived for five years and earned an MA in translation studies. Her published translations have been varied and include novels, children’s books and chapter books for young readers, short stories, poetry, essays, and nonfiction. Kyzer is a board member of Ós, an Iceland-based international and literary collective, and is a member of the American Literary Translators Association and PEN America. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

“Atmospheric, disorienting…A dreamlike meditation on isolation and the bone-aching desire for companionship.” —Kirkus Reviews“This story is like walking on a tightrope. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking, and it’s a page-turner.” —Authorlink“Patience will be rewarded…unexpected connections, both literary and emotional.” —Booklist“Gripping, often surprising…Eiríksdottír’s novel is both intelligent and affecting.” —Publishers Weekly“Lyrical, wrenching, and arresting as a fist punch to the heart, this award winner from Icelandic author Eiríksdóttir unfolds the growing concern of Elín Jónsdóttir, a seventyish theater props designer, for troubled young playwright Ellen Álfsdóttir. At the same time, the slow revelation of a terrible incident in Elín’s youth explains her insular existence while building with thrillerlike intensity. North-star bright.” —Library Journal“The rare opportunity to dwell in the mind of a troubled woman…a glimpse of tragedy, trauma, and forsakenness—drawing one closer even as it leaves one a little ill at ease.” —The Straits Times (Singapore)“A Fist or a Heart is a riveting thriller about the twisty relationship between two women: Elín, a 70-something who lives a lonesome existence and is absorbed by her work making props and prosthetics for adaptations of Nordic crime novels; and Ellen, a young playwright and illegitimate daughter of a famous writer.” —Bustle“A novel of isolation and secrets, the emotional resonance of A Fist or a Heart sneaks up on you as you’re busy trying to figure out what’s lying underneath the solitary lives of these women.” —Three Percent“Eiríksdóttir offers here a most elegant page-turner, one that disturbs and unsettles, making us question the way trauma casts a spell, the strength of certain secrets, and the innate motivation to find human connection.” —NYLON“Award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist Kristín Eiríksdóttir has written a clever and many layered story of isolation, art, and memory…A Fist or a Heart sneaks up on you.” —Book Riot