Allen & Unwin Ice book Fiction English Paperback 448 pages

The epic of island life that has gripped Finland.

In the summer of 1947, a young priest, Petter, his wife and baby daughter, arrive by mail boat at a tiny island. They are to take over its drafty homestead from where Petter is to minister to the scattered community. In this evocative tale, Ulla-Lena Lundberg draws us into the minutiae of an austere yet purposeful life where the demands of self-sufficiency - cows to milk and sheep to graze - are tempered by the kindness of neighbours. With each season, the family's love of the island grows and when the winter brings ice a new and tentative link is created. Told through the eyes of Petter, the wholehearted if naive novice priest, and Mona, his tough-minded wife, a story unfolds that is as immersive as it is heartrending.Winner of the Finlandia prize and nominated for the Nordic Critics Prize, Ice was a huge bestseller in Finland.

Ulla-Lena Lundberg (b 1947) is an acclaimed and prizewinning Finland-Swedish poet, ethnologist and author. She has published more than twenty works of fiction and essays. Born in K.kar in the .land islands, she has lived in Japan, Africa and Siberia, and now lives in Porvoo, Finland. Ulla-Lena was featured on a recent .land Islands stamp.