Twilight of the Gods

About the Book

Twilight of the Gods A story set in Iceland, the large island under the Arctic Circle created by volcanoes, where people shaped by the harsh environment often take solace in the strength of ancient Viking beliefs and their Sagas. Ingrid Sveinsdottir, motherless and daughter of a fisherman, grows up in a lonely house. While waiting for her father to come home from the sea, she spends her time going through his collection of Viking books and Sagas, copying drawings of Gods and Goddesses and dreaming of going off to Odin’s place in the sky. She develops exceptional artistic talents and at a young age is accepted at the Art Academy in Reykjavik. When barely twenty-one she is favored by a teacher from Germany, who recommends her for a scholarship at the Munich Academy. Against her father’s wishes she travels with him to the continent. Her time away from home starts full of glorious adventures but soon turns into the worst nightmare. Found by the police after having been raped by two men and knocked unconscious, bleeding from head and vagina, she is rushed to a hospital in Munich where she remains in a coma for several weeks. Leslie Skulason, a cousin from Iceland, who is working on his doctorate in Copenhagen, hears about the tragedy and makes several trips to Munich, sits by her bed and prays for her return to life. Miraculously, she does return and learns that while she was in a coma, her father was lost at sea. This she refuses to acknowledge. She prays to Odin for his rescue and safe return to her. A dream she cannot let go of until his body is found and identified. The body is found by his older brother, Leslie’s father also a fisherman, who tormented by jealousy for his younger brother, wished him dead many times over. Leslie is not like his father, nor like his Danish, spoiled and sophisticated mother. He has lived a lonely life and always wanted to get to know Ingrid and a close loving relationship develops between them. He wants to marry her. Leslie’s love is mostly platonic as he is troubled by suppressed homosexuality. After he moves back to Iceland permanently an old friend and lover, Martin Henning, arrives on the scene. Tension and intrigue is mounting, added to by Ingrid’s childhood friend Erla, who moves in with her. Leslie becomes an ordained minister, receives a post as district pastor in Northern Iceland and the two are married in Husavik, where Ingrid’s grandmother lives. But, their stay in Akareyri and Leslie’s ministry is brutally interrupted by a life-threatening car accident. Leslie loses his memory temporarily, but Martin moves in with them in Reykjavik and works with him tirelessly, bringing him back to normal. A new life lies ahead for the three of them. But can this triad, this monomania, exist under one roof? Yes, through mutual respect and understanding, through love, restraint and denial, they make it work and create a loving home together.

About the Author

Unni Hoel is a painter and a musician who turned to writing in her later years. Her previous books, Overtones, Absolute Pitch and Bitter Cradle are for and about music lovers. Her novel Echoes of Balefire is written from the depth of her soul and depicts the beauty of natural scenery and the sonance emitted from the Norwegian mountains creating a completely new and fresh music. In Twilight of the Gods she turns to Viking beliefs and old sagas and wrestles with religious as well as sexual tolerance.