The Ice Palace

By Tarjei Vesaas, Elizabeth Rokkan (translator),

Book cover of The Ice Palace

Book description

In rural Norway, one evening after school, 11-year-old Siss and Unn strike up a deep and unusual bond. When the next day Unn sets off into the wintry woods in search of a mysterious frozen waterfall, known locally as the "ice palace," and does not return, a devastated Siss takes…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Ice Palace as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Set in icy Norway, about the friendship between two young girls, Siss and Unn, this short novel was a revelation to me as a writer and as a reader.

Written in the third-person, it has the immediacy of the first-person point of view, with the broader viewpoint and detail that third-person allows. The characterisation and style blew me away with its unique intensity. It’s the kind of book where you keep wondering how the writer managed to describe a world so brilliantly.

It packs beauty, tragedy, and hope into a small space and left me breathless and inspired—a masterpiece.

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