The Fish Can Sing

Author  Halldor Laxness Introduction by  Jane Smiley
The Fish Can Sing

One of the most beloved novels from the Nobel Prize winner, a poignant coming-of-age tale marked with the peculiar Icelandic blend of light irony and dark humor. • With an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres

The orphan Alfgrimur has spent an idyllic childhood sheltered in the simple turf cottage of a generous and eccentric elderly couple. Alfgrimur dreams only of becoming a fisherman like his adoptive grandfather, until he meets Iceland's biggest celebrity. The opera singer Gardar Holm’s international fame is a source of tremendous pride to tiny, insecure Iceland, though no one there has ever heard him sing.

A mysterious man who mostly avoids his homeland and repeatedly fails to perform…