
The Woman at 1,000 Degrees
by Hallgrímur Helgason
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Pub Date Feb 01 2018 | Archive Date Jan 12 2018
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Description
‘I live here alone in a garage, together with a laptop computer and a hand grenade. It’s pretty cosy.’
And...she’s off. Eighty-year-old Herra Bjornsson takes readers on a dazzling ride of a novel as she reflects – in a voice by turns darkly funny, bawdy, poignant, and always, always smart – on the mishaps, tragedies and turns of luck that took her from a happy childhood to war-torn Europe, then to Argentina and finally to post-crash Iceland where the last pieces of this haunting puzzle fall into place.
An international bestseller, The Woman at 1,000 Degrees is a deeply moving story of a woman swept up by the forces of history, with echoes of All the Light We Cannot See.
Advance Praise
'What a novel! A gutsy, brilliant book: I could not tear myself away from it.'
Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites
'What a novel! A gutsy, brilliant book: I could not tear myself away from it.'
Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites
Marketing Plan
'Gripping, darkly comic, and utterly original.'
Valerie Martin, author of Property
'Gripping, darkly comic, and utterly original.'
Valerie Martin, author of Property
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9781786071699 |
PRICE | £14.99 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews

An octogenarian Icelander ruminates on her life from the confines of a hospital bed in someone’s garage.
I struggled with this one. Chapters 19 & 20 have some of the most beautiful language I’ve read in a long time. At other times Herra’s memoirs are slow going and uninspiring. At 300 & some pages it should have been an easygoing read but it felt like I was wading in this woman’s life for weeks and weeks, living the War in real time, especially at the end.
Very similar to the 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Only without the pace & drive.. The story meanders mostly through the second World War and Herrbjorg's struggles through Germany and Poland as an Icelander and a teenage girl.
Far from the dry/dark humour I was expecting from the blurb, this is a harrowing tale of a war survivor's life, and the struggles she faced even after the war was over
Read if you enjoy historical fiction, particularly from the second World War.
Read if you enjoyed Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
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Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers, Romance