Joachim B. Schmidt – författare

The return of Kalmann, the oddball hero of the successful novel of the same name. Set in the US during the 2021 riots at the Capitol Building and then in Iceland, Kalmann, the philosopher Sheriff of Raufarhöfn, solves murders leading back to the US involvement in Iceland in the Cold War.

In Osmann, Ferryman of the North, novelist Joachim B. Schmidt delivers his most accomplished novel to date: a luminous work of historical fiction inspired by the true life of Jon Magnusson Osmann (1862-1914), a legendary ferryman from northern Iceland.For more than forty years, Osmann rows people, animals and goods across the icy waters of Skagafjoerdur, becoming a figure of near-mythic stature. A fisherman and a winter seal hunter, a poet, drinker and devout believer, he shelters the needy and lives in close communion with a landscape where elves, ghosts and faith coexist. His generous spirit extends to friendships and to three great loves, yet his life is marked by profound loss: children die in infancy, friends drown or emigrate, and modernity slowly encroaches on the valley he has always known.Told with fluid, lyrical prose and a deep sense of place, Osmann blends history, myth and human vulnerability to evoke a vanished way of life at the edge of the Arctic. Beautiful, moving and quietly powerful, it confirms Schmidt - already well known to English-language readers for Kalmann and Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain - as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary European fiction. Perfect for fans of Burial Rites and The Sealwoman's Gift