Fríða Ísberg – författare

'Searingly brilliant . . . like George Orwell and Anthony Burgess before her, lets the dystopian ironies speak for themselves.'TLS'Absolutely stunning.' HERNAN DIAZ'A masterpiece.' KAVEH AKBAR A debut novel of urgent big ideas imbued with pacy plotting and atmospheric power, by an exciting new talent.The Icelandic Psychological Association has prepared a test. They call it a sensitivity assessment: a way of measuring a person's empathy and identifying the potential for anti-social behaviour.In a few days' time, Iceland will vote on whether to make the test compulsory for every citizen. The nation is bitterly divided. Some believe the test makes society safer; others decry it as a violation.As the referendum draws closer, four people - Vetur, Eyja, Tristan and Ólafur - find themselves caught in the teeth of the debate. Each of them will have to reckon with uncomfortable questions: Where do the rights of society end and the rights of the individual begin? When does utopia become dystopia?No matter which side wins, they will all have to find a way to live with the result.

Reykjavík, the near-future. Society is divided by a development in social technology-a diagnostic tool called The Empathy Test that measures compassion or amorality.In less than two months, a national referendum will determine whether 'marking' each citizen with their results of the test will become compulsory. Four main characters-Vetur, Eyja, Óli and Tristan-face dilemmas of agency and autonomy while navigating their everyday desires and duties. As the dawn of irreversible changes in healthcare ethics, socioeconomic stability and the cultural fabric draws nearer, the mark of judgment lays bare the balance of their persona and political loyalties and conflicts.Polyphonic and profound, probing and perturbing, The Mark is a fresh and confident take on populism, polarization, and partisanship. Powerful, compulsively readable and radically contemporary, it asks us whether we want to live in a world defined by faith in each other, or fear of the future...

'Searingly brilliant . . . [Ísberg] like George Orwell and Anthony Burgess before her, lets the dystopian ironies speak for themselves.'TLS'Absolutely stunning.' HERNAN DIAZ'A masterpiece.' KAVEH AKBAR A debut novel of urgent big ideas imbued with pacy plotting and atmospheric power, by an exciting new talent.The Icelandic Psychological Association has prepared a test. They call it a sensitivity assessment: a way of measuring a person's empathy and identifying the potential for anti-social behaviour.In a few days' time, Iceland will vote on whether to make the test compulsory for every citizen. The nation is bitterly divided. Some believe the test makes society safer; others decry it as a violation.As the referendum draws closer, four people - Vetur, Eyja, Tristan and Ólafur - find themselves caught in the teeth of the debate. Each of them will have to reckon with uncomfortable questions: Where do the rights of society end and the rights of the individual begin? When does utopia become dystopia?No matter which side wins, they will all have to find a way to live with the result.