About the Size of the Universe

A modern saga spanning the whole of the 20th century, by one of Iceland's most celebrated writers.

At the beginning of this story there is death, and yet it is a celebration of life - the passion between a man and a woman, forbidden love, violence, sorrow, betrayal. Happiness and misfortune are passed down from one generation to the next. The sorrow over what was and what might have been weighs heavily on the characters and at the end of this chain, for now, stands Ari, on his way to his dying father, with a score still to be settled.

The raw beauty of life is written into the dramatic Icelandic landscape, and into a society that has undergone great transformation within a century. In language both archaic and lyrical, and yet entirely contemporary and full of humour, Jon Kalman Stefansson proves himself one of the finest European writers of his generation.

A companion volume to FISH HAVE NO FEET (longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017).

Translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton

“Stefansson's prose rolls and surges with oceanic splendour. - Spectator.Stefansson shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy - Times Literary SupplementPowerful and sparkling . . . Prize-winning translator Philip Roughton's feather-light touch brings out the gleaming, fairy-tale quality of the writing - Irish TimesA wonderful, exceptional writer . . . A timeless storyteller.”

Stefansson's prose rolls and surges with oceanic splendour. - Spectator.

Stefansson shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy - Times Literary Supplement

Powerful and sparkling . . . Prize-winning translator Philip Roughton's feather-light touch brings out the gleaming, fairy-tale quality of the writing - Irish Times

A wonderful, exceptional writer . . . A timeless storyteller.

Jon Kalman Stefansson's novels have been nominated three times for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature and his novel Summer Light, and then Comes the Night received the Icelandic Prize for Literature in 2005. In 2011 he was awarded the prestigious P.O. Enquist Award. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy - Heaven and Hell, The Sorrow of Angels (longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Heart of Man (winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize) - and for Fish Have No Feet (longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017).

A modern saga spanning the whole of the 20th century, by one of Iceland's most celebrated writers. At the beginning of this story there is death, and yet it is a celebration of life - the passion between a man and a woman, forbidden love, violence, sorrow, betrayal. Happiness and misfortune are passed down from one generation to the next. The sorrow over what was and what might have been weighs heavily on the characters and at the end of this chain, for now, stands Ari, on his way to his dying father, with a score still to be settled. The raw beauty of life is written into the dramatic Icelandic landscape, and into a society that has undergone great transformation within a century. In language both archaic and lyrical, and yet entirely contemporary and full of humour, Jon Kalman Stefansson proves himself one of the finest European writers of his generation. A companion volume to FISH HAVE NO FEET (longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017). Translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton

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