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El silenci del far
Anna is the librarian in Húsavík, a small Icelandic fishing village. When she receives a letter signed 'your father, who loves you', a door inside her which she believed was closed for ever suddenly opens and forces her to face her past and to redefine the certainties on which she has built her identity. Why did her parents abandon her? Who is she, really? How will her old piano teacher be able to help her? To find the answers she will have to go inside the abandoned house where her parents lived, despite the irrational fear it produces in her. At the same time Gísli arrives in Húsavík, a young biologist from the capital who has travelled the whole island with the intention of healing past wounds. Their meeting will be inevitable and together they will weave string of complicity is in the shared attempt to unearth old ghosts.
El Silenci del Far is the debut novel by author Albert Juvany. Set in Iceland, in a small fishing village called Húsavik, it tells the story of librarian Anna and her search for the truth about her family. A quiet, unassuming young woman, Anna’s life is one day turned upside down when she receives a letter signed by “your father who loves you”. Anna had been told by her aunt and uncle with whom she has grown up that her parents had left her, abandoned her in order to make a future for themselves which appeared not to include her (…) The story of Anna is paralleled by the arrival of Gísli to the village from Rekyavik. He too is on a search for the truth about his past and his family and the inevitable meeting between the two leads to a entwining of plots which make for an intriguing read.
This is a well-constructed novel which although slow to start, takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey which constantly surprises and draws them in, leaving them always wanting more. The structure is very cleverly done (…)
The setting of the novel in an Icelandic village is also a very clever device. This cold, oppressive atmosphere entirely reflects the secrets, lies, doubts and silences of the characters.
El silenci del far is an intriguing, atmospheric novel which unravels the mystery of both Anna and Gísli’s families in a way that draws the reader in. With the current trend for novels in translation from Nordic origins this novel almost seems an ideal possibility for translation (…)
I really enjoyed the novel (…). By about one third of the way through I couldn’t put it down and the plot resolution was not at all disappointing.
From the reader´s report by Jennifer Arnold