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You know how it is when someone gives you a paperback as a gift; you are never sure if you are going to like it, and if it happens to be translated form Norwegian and have a title relating to The First world War, then there is every reason to have a few doubts. But my doubts quickly faded after I started this book and it wasn't long before I was absolutely glued to it and resented every task that took me away from the next chapter.  If someone had told me that this book had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction I would have believed them, it's that good.  Why is the cover not plastered with little rosettes from Prize giving organisations?  Lars Mytting has won prizes for his non-fiction work but he deserves more - and Paul Russell Garrett deserves another prize for a translation that doesn't in any way feel like one. The story follows Edvard Hirifjell through his quest to discover what really happened back in 1971 when his parents were killed in an accident and he was report...

  Cast aside everything you think you know about fairies and prepare to slip into a world within our world.  Doreen Hopwood has created an entire mythical civilisation with its own complex society and territorial conflicts, that functions just beyond human reach, and is only accessible through closely guarded portals. The world of Sidhthean is broken into territories held by fairies, goblins, trolls and gnomes and the most powerful ruler is Queen Ceriddwen who controls access to the Four Gates which can be opened onto to the human world.  Her kingdom has been put under threat by Gwynn ap Nudd, King of the Goblins, who has already invaded the Anunnaki lands and killed the entire population there, including the Anunnaki dragon fairies and shapeshifting flower fairies.  Now that Ceriddwen's son, the Crown Prince Gwion is presumed dead, Gwynn ap Nudd is threatening the Land of the Four Gates, and if he gains control of the land, he intends to invade and conquer the human...

 I'm not really sure where to start with reviewing this book as it is complicated and disturbing and I think only a person who has suffered some kind of trauma themselves could have written it. It begins in the early 1960 where we meet Isabel who lives alone in a house in the Netherlands that her family came to when she was young.  Right from the start it is clear that Isabel has issues.  She is obsessive and doesn't enjoy any kind of social interaction although she does occasionally meet up with her two brothers and their partners.  Isabel is keeping the house exactly as her mother kept it and she has taken on some of her mother's mannerisms as a way of navigating through certain situations.  She employs a young girl to come and cook and clean for her but she offers no friendship to the girl who has to deal with Isabel constantly checking on her. It is very hard to like Isabel as she has a mean side to her and will deliberately say things to hurt other people....