13 November

Please visit our Book Bulletin 2019 crowdfunding project at CrowdPatch to buy recommendations for our Winter 2019 catalogue and to volunteer your skills, experience and contacts. All funds raised will support not-for-profit Jolabokaflod CIC’s forthcoming programme of events.

Viking Kids Don’t Cry
Ieda Jónasdóttir Herman
(USA: Hekla Publishing, not on Twitter, 2017)

In Iceland 1935, Didda and her two sisters, Sissi and Lilla, have a childhood of adventure but learn difficult life lessons. Like their Viking ancestors, their life is full of trolls and Hidden People and the daily chores around the farm. Didda loves climbing the cliffs to collect bird’s eggs but would rather face a troll than Grandpa’s nasty-tempered cow named Old Red. When chores are done, the adventure begins. She and her friends ride Icelandic horses across the fjord, risk the wrath of the trolls attempting to fly from the cowshed room and come face-to-face with a trapped polar bear.

The Icelandic frontier real-life hardships she faces teaches her to value every day. Grandpa always said Viking children never cried; they howled, screamed, bellowed – but did not cry! Didda learns to overcome her fear of a terrible storm at sea that threatens to sink their ship and must come to terms with the loss of a close friend. She comes to understand joy, fear, loss and life while never crying even once.

Recommended by:
Heidi Herman, Author | Author website: Heidi Herman

Heidi writes contemporary fiction and Icelandic-inspired books. During her 30 years as a telecommunication consultant, writing was an integral part of every day. Client reports, white papers and technical documentation are essential aspects in communication that she enjoyed those producing immensely. She now focuses purely on writing, but the subject matter is typically fiction.

Heidi enjoys writing about Iceland: her children’s book, folklore collection and cookbook are reflective of this. Her interest in Iceland derives from her mother, Ieda Jónasdóttir Herman, a native of the country. At present, Heidi focuses on novels: including women’s literature, Westerns and some romance.

Given her Icelandic heritage, Heidi chairs a Youth & Culture committee for the Icelandic National League of North America (INLNA). One of INLNA’s initiatives is the Reads! program, in which they connect all the member groups in North America to read a selected book by an Icelandic author. The next Reads! event is taking place at the INLNA’s 100th convention in Winnipeg, the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba (16-18 May 2019).

Heidi’s 93-year-old mother, Ieda, is also an author, writing books about her experiences of growing up in Iceland. She has published a childhood memoir for adults and a historical fiction for children based on the same stories. Ieda and her experience of marrying an American soldier and emigrating to the USA at the end of World War II was recently the subject of a well-received documentary on Icelandic television: Aldrei Of Seint (Never Too Late). Heidi is currently writing a memoir of Ieda entitled Vitality of a Viking, which memorialises 93 bucket-list events Ieda is experiencing in her 93rd year.

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Please visit our Book Bulletin 2019 crowdfunding project at CrowdPatch to buy recommendations for our Winter 2019 catalogue and to volunteer your skills, experience and contacts. All funds raised will support not-for-profit Jolabokaflod CIC’s forthcoming programme of events.

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