The Whispering Muse

The year is 1949 and Valdimar Haraldsson, an eccentric Icelander with elevated ideas about the influence of fish consumption on Nordic civilization, has had the singular good fortune to be invited to join a Danish merchant ship on its way to the Black Sea.

Among the crew is the mythical hero Caeneus, disguised as the second mate. Every evening after dinner he entrances his fellow travellers with the tale of how he sailed with the fabled vessel, the Argo, on the Argonauts' quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. En route the heroes happened upon the island of Lemnos and discovered to their astonishment, and considerable delight, that it was inhabited solely by women.

An ode to storytelling, The Whispering Muse evokes a time gone by with wit and verve, from the rogues and oddities among sea-faring types to the long-lost romance and mystique of ancient mythology.

Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1962, Sjón is a celebrated Icelandic poet and novelist. He has won the Nordic Council Literary Prize and Best Icelandic Novel in 2005 for The Whispering Muse. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Sjón is the president of the Icelandic PEN Centre. Also a songwriter, Sjón has written lyrics for Bjork, including for her most recent musical project, Biophilia.

Victoria Cribb lived in Iceland for many years. She now lives in England, where she is completing a PhD in Old Icelandic literature at the University of Cambridge. Her translations include three novels in collaboration with Olaf Olafsson.