National Network for Equitable Library Service

There are two Icelands. One is the island in the North Sea, settled since Viking times. The other is "Western Iceland," the communities throughout North America, settled by Icelanders in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and which still maintain strong ties to the "old country."" "This collection of short stories and poems spans seventy-five years of writing by Western Icelandic women writers. It includes translated work by little-known early writers, such as Undina, who wrote before the turn of the century, as well as work written in English by prominent writers such as Laura Goodman Salverson, twice a winner of the Governor-General's Award. These short stories and poems reflect a range of experiences common to immigrant women from many cultures.