The Promise of Iceland

Author: Kári Gíslason

AUD $ 24.95

In 1990, Kári Gíslason travelled to Iceland to meet his father for the first time. What he finds is not what he expected.

Born from a secret liaison between a British mother and an Icelandic father, Kári Gíslason was the subject of a promise – a promise elicited from his father to not reveal his identity. The Icelandic city of Reykjavík, where Kári was born, was also home to his father and his father’s wife and five children – none of whom knew of Kári’s existence. Moving regularly between Iceland and Australia, he grew up aware of his father’s identity, but understanding that it was the subject of a secret pact between his parents. At the age of 27, he makes a decision to break the pact and contacts his father’s other family. What follows, and what leads him there, makes for a riveting journey over landscapes, time and memory.

Kári travels from the freezing cold winters of Iceland to the shark net at Sydney’s Balmoral, an unsettled life in the English countryside and the harsh yellow summer of Brisbane, and back again. He traces the steps of his mother who answered an ad in The Times for an English-speaking secretary in 1970 and found herself in Iceland among the ‘Army of Foreign Secretaries’, and in the arms of a secret lover. Iceland becomes the substitute for the father Kári never really knew as he discovers the meaning of ‘home’ and closes the circle of his own fatherless life.

Reviews

‘Landscape plays a large role in this gorgeously told tale, the extremes of the Australian landscape and the Icelandic one frame a tale of fathers, sons, mothers, betrayals, forgiveness and love. This is a quietly moving and effecting memoir by a first time Brisbane novelist.’ Avid Reader Bookshop

‘This is one of the better kinds of memoir – one in which the author is not only reflective, but also reflexive. Ka?ri demonstrates an awareness of the fallibility of memory, of subjectivity, and his own shortcomings as a writer and son. He is an undoubted Icelandophile, but there is little fawning – his prose is direct but unhurried, and demonstrates those qualities he attributes to the Icelanders: self-deprecatory wit, profundity and a prying inquisitiveness into the lives of others.’ Readings Monthly

‘A powerful memoir about landscape and identity.’ Adelaide Advertiser

‘A deeply charming account of displacement, of not really knowing where you come from and how that makes it difficult to know where you belong.’ Sunday Mail

‘G?slason makes a bittersweet journey home, where he receives an unexpected welcome.’ Sun Herald

‘Gislasonskilfully questions the connection between parenthood and cultural belongingand asks where exactly "home" is.’ The Senior

‘The Promise of Iceland is a wonder-filled read. As gentle and honest as it is forthright, as humorous as it is emotive and as smart as it is beautifully crafted. It’s little wonder it was the shining star at this year’s Brisbane Writer’s Festival and has since garnered the deserving and placid Viking a multitude of accolades and fans and commissions all over the place. It’s well worth a read, wherever you come from.’ Lee Mcgowan, WordPress.com

‘[A] memorable, finely-crafted book.’ Saturday Age

‘An honest, contemplative and heartfelt journey across generations, landscapes and … the truth and mythology of family.’ Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin