WORDChristchurch Excitement Is On: I Welcome Fellow Hachette Author, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
The WORDChristchurch Writers and Readers Festival kicked off yesterday, Wednesday 27—and the excitement is on!
On Monday, I welcomed fellow Hachette author, Diane Setterfield, to NZ and the festival. Today I am delighted to extend the same warm welcome to crime writer, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.
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Welcoming Yrsa Sigurðardóttir to WORDChristchurch
Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir wrote prize-winning children’s novels before writing Last Rituals, her first adult novel and described as a “chilling, grisly thriller.” Her latest crime novel, The Silence of the Sea, is the sixth crime novel to feature attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir.
The other Gudmundsdottir novels are: My Soul to Take, Ashes to Dust, The Day is Dark and Someone to Watch Over Me. She has also written a standalone horror novel, I Remember You, which was published in the UK in 2012. All of her adult novels have been European bestsellers. Yrsa Sigurðardóttir also works as a civil engineer and lives in Reykjavik.
Here’s a little bit more about The Silence of the Sea in particular:
“The most chilling novel yet from Yrsa Sigurdardottir, ‘Iceland’s answer to Stieg Larsson’ ” – Daily Telegraph.
A luxury yacht arrives in Reykjavik harbour with nobody on board. What has happened to the crew, and to the family who were on board when it left Lisbon? Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired by the young father’s parents to investigate, and is soon drawn deeper into the mystery. What should she make of the rumours saying that the vessel was cursed, especially given that when she boards the yacht she thinks she sees one of the missing twins? Where is Karitas, the glamorous young wife of the yacht’s former owner? And whose is the body that has washed up further along the shore?”
The Independent also described Yrsa Sigurðardóttir as: “A generator of fear quite as adroit as such writers as Stephen King.”
High praise indeed and clearly an author to catch—but you only have one opportunity in this festival:
Dark and Chilling Sunday 31 August, 1pm — Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Scottish writer, Liam McIlvanney, talk about their books, and their other lives, with crime fiction enthusiast Craig Sisterson.
If you’re a fan of Nordic Noir and the dark and chilling generally, don’t miss out!