Valentines: StoriesFrom the acclaimed Icelandic author of The Journey Home comes a haunting collection of thematically linked stories that traverse the twelve months of a year. The stories in Valentines capture the most candid moments between lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children, when truths and true feelings surge to the surface and everything changes. A wife realizes her closest confidante is much more than that. A father tries to make his new lover into the image of his late wife. A husband, a wife, a child, a boating accident: no harm done . . . or is there? Olaf Olafsson's fans will recognize the perfect restraint and precision--and quick wit--with which he explores these dark epiphanies, when the heart is suddenly laid bare, whether by love or betrayal, disenchantment or the shock of loss. Valentines is a powerful work of fiction from one of our most gifted and subtle international writers at work today. |
Contents
Section 1 | 5 |
Section 2 | 23 |
Section 3 | 37 |
Section 4 | 61 |
Section 5 | 77 |
Section 6 | 95 |
Section 7 | 121 |
Section 8 | 139 |
Section 9 | 159 |
Section 10 | 183 |
Section 11 | 199 |
Section 12 | 209 |
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answer apartment asked asleep bathroom beach beer Benedikt binoculars Björk Bjorn boat bought calf called canapés Cap d'Antibes chairlift coffee Conrad David dinner Disa drank drinking drove eBay Edda Elisabet Ester everything Express mail eyes feel felt friends garden garter belts glass gone hand happened Hermann Hillary Hoffmann hot chocolate Iceland Inga Iris Jakob Jenny Johann Jonas Karen Karl Kathryn Katrin Kjartan knew lake Lake Bled Laura Lawrence Ljubljana looked Magnus Margret Maria Marilyn marriage Marta Maureen morning mother Nancy never opened Oskar Philip rain restaurant Reykjavík schnapps silence sitting skiing smiled snow Soley stared started stayed Stefan stood stopped sure talked Taubman tell things thought told Tomas tomorrow took tried trip turned Vilhelm wait walked watched weekend window York Knicks Yugoslavia