In rural Norway, one evening after school, 11-year-old Siss and Unn strike up a deep and unusual bond. When the next day Unn sets off into the wintry woods in search of a mysterious frozen waterfall, known locally as the “ice palace,” and does not return, a devastated Siss takes it upon herself to find her missing friend.
Siss's struggle with her fidelity to the memory of her friend and Unn's fatal exploration of the strange, terrifyingly beautiful frozen waterfall that is the Ice Palace are described in prose of a lyrical economy that ranks among the most memorable achievements of modern literature thanks in large part to Vesaas's unique command of a sparse, figurative and fragmentary style.
“Austere poetical clarity, stoical wisdom and a vivid response to nature.” —Times Literary Supplement
“Vesaas’s laconic sentences are as cold and simple as ice—and as fantastic.” — Daily Telegraph
(Group read suggestion from Ivor Watkins, book club moderator.)
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