Yrsa's fifth crime-novel in German
German publisher Fischer Verlag has secured the translation rights to Horfðu á mig (Look at Me).
The Bjartur-Veröld literary agency have finalised a contract with Fischer Verlag in Germany to publish Horfðu á mig (Look at Me) by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. Sigurðardóttir has enjoyed considerable success in Germany recently, the weekly magazine Der Spiegel having selected her novel Auðnin (Bleakness) one of the week's three most important books when it was published there in December.
In Horfðu á mig lawyer Þóra Guðmundsdóttir attempts to get a disabled man's case retried. He is incarcerated in a high-security psychiatric ward for burning down his sheltered home, causing the deaths of five people. The investigation leads to the sort of supernatural and chilling entanglements that are familiar from her previous works; Sigurðardóttir's books have carved a unique place in the field of Icelandic crime writing, with their clash of ancient legends meeting present-day murder mysteries. Horfðu á mig was one of last year's best-sellers in Iceland and was well received by critics, some of whom said this was her best book so far.
Sigurðardóttir's books have been published in more than thirty languages and have been well received by critics and readers far and wide, from the United States in the west to Japan in the east. Sigurðardóttir is now working on her sixth crime novel, which will be published by Veröld next autumn.