Vintage Classics First published in 1946, this is a humane, epic novel set in rural Iceland. Bjartur is a sheep farmer determined to eke a living from a blighted patch of land. Nothing, not merciless weather, nor his family will come between him and his goal of financial independence. Only Asta Sollilja, the child he brings up as his daughter, can pierce his stubborn heart. As she grows up, keen to make her own way in the world, Bjartur"s obstinacy threatens to estrange them forever. "There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life New York Review of Books.