When Una sets out to change her life, she really goes all out. 'Teacher wanted on the edge of the world ...' They aren't kidding. Skálar is about as far into the North-East of Iceland it is possible to get without falling off the island and landing in the arctic circle ... Add into that the fact that she is heading north to be a Teacher over winter, in a country where the winter nights are already so long the darkness barely ends, and Skálar being such a tiny and closeted community, and the scene is set for a story which is rich in atmosphere, tension, mystery and who whole heap of spooky goings on.

Now when I say Skálar is tiny, I really mean it. In the UK we'd call it a hamlet. If we were being generous, that is. A village of ten people, at least until Una arrives, and two of them are her students. That whole sense of everyone knowing everyone else's business is amplified tenfold, to that whole sense of apprehension that accompanies Una's arrival in the village, and Ragnar Jónasson uses this to perfect effect. She really is the outsider and that natural trust of such a close knit community, all of whom have long standing ties to Skálar, make it hard for her to really settle and makes for a nerve jangling ride for readers too.

But that's not the only reason, and Skálar is a place that has a dark history, a place nursing many secrets, some of which surround the house that Una is now to call home. Everything about it is pitch perfect, from the long nights, to the chill winds from the sea, adding to that sense of unease that begins very early on in the story. This is part mystery, part ghost story, and Una is soon to discover that it is not only the living she has to fear ... That element of the story is well played, tapping into many of the classic tropes of a supernatural mystery, leaving you wondering just how much of it is real and how much of it Una's imagination, and trust me when I say there are many reasons to question her sanity, and not just her growing sense of isolation. The more we learn of Una, of her tragic past, the more reason we have to be wary of what she thinks she sees.

Intertwined with una's story is a true mystery - the disappearance of a man from Reykjavik. How this ties into this very remote village on the very far reaches of Iceland remains to be seen, but there are passages throughout the novel with are slowly revealed, a first person testimony regarding a very heinous crime. They may seem disconnected from the story at first, and I found myself second guessing who, if anybody, the narrator of these passages might be, but the author allows them to intertwine and tangle, and eventually they start to reveal a much clearer picture of what has happened and what comes to pass. The revelations may be shocking, the reality of the story somewhat melancholic, but then that almost gothic style tragedy really is the undertone of the whole novel and it works well.

If you have come to this looking for one of Ragnar Jónasson's hallmark police procedurals, then you are likely to be surprised. As always, he captures the essence of Iceland's remote and isolated locations perfectly, making part of me crave the solitude it may offer whilst the other, larger part, is thankful of the anonymity of the larger community I live in. With The Girl Who Died, aided by the flawless translation by Victoria Cribb, Ragnar Jónasson provides us with a tragedy laden and undulating mystery, full of atmosphere and with brilliantly crafted and yet flawed characters who keep you as much on edge as the spectral nature of Una's unexpected roommate.

Ragnar Jonasson is one of Iceland’s top crime and mystery authors and this book, his latest, is a standalone not part of his Dark Iceland series. It is set in the 1980s for no very obvious reason except that modern technology (even just a basic Mobile phone) would render the plot unworkable.
Una, a bored out of work teacher in Reykjavik, takes a job teaching two girls in the remote village of Skalar – population ten! The village ‘leader’ is the owner of the fishery, most of the others work for him or are their wives and the feel is like that often used in fiction where there are dark secrets waiting to spill out. The woman who owns the small farm on the hill is part of this group, but she also has a mysterious bearded lodger, Thor. Una meets him while walking on her first evening and appears to form an immediate attraction.
The only other resident, Salka, has recently returned to the village and lives in the family home which she has inherited. Her daughter is one of the two pupils and Una is accommodated in her house, occupying a self-contained flat at the top of the building. The house is haunted by a girl who died sixty years earlier, for reason and by cause unknown. The ghost is seen and heard by Una who is terrified.
Interpolated into the main story are the thoughts of another woman, who appears to have been convicted, with others, of a double murder, of which she has no memory. There are initially, and for some time, no obvious links between these two stories.
Throw in some other strange not very believable happenings, (especially a medical emergency where the medical details are wrong).
So is it a dysfunctional society story, a ghost story, a horror story, or a murder mystery? Perhaps it is a clever blend of them all. Well, it is all of these parts but it isn’t a sum of its parts and it certainly isn’t a blend of the parts. It does all come together at the end but it is a strangely unconvincing ending. Given the pedigree of the author I was very disappointed.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

What a creepy treat!

"Teacher wanted at the edge of the world". When you're struggling and are looking for a fresh start that sounds very appealing. But one couldn't be more wrong...

Ragnar's writing is so clever, the location, the atmosphere just transports you.

This place is a protagonist on its own and the mysteries are unknotting in the most delightful fashion.

I can't say too much more by fear of giving away a spoiler but I thoroughly enjoyed this Icelandic noir story.

I love Ragnar Jonasson’s writing, so seeing a stand alone novel I was intrigued to see what this one would be about. After all I know I like the writing. So knew I was in for a treat.

The story is set in the 1980’s so no cell phones or internet, leaving a person pretty isolated, with no friends. Skaler is a remote hamlet, a small fishing community of 10. Even newspapers don’t always arrive because of the remoteness.

30 year old Una was looking for a change of scenery, she is struggling to recover from her father’s suicide near her birthday and Christmas time, she worries she will be like him, she is drinking too much to try and calm her nerves, so when she sees an advertisement saying ‘TEACHER WANTED AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD’ for one year, in Skaler, teaching two girls Una decides to go for it. The accommodation is with Salka who is the parent of Edda one of the girls she is teaching. But Una is haunted repeatedly by a child’s voice singing a lullaby, she also sees glimpses of a girl dressed in white. When Una mentions what she has seen and heard it is dismissed as her drinking too much wine. But what do the locals really know?

Of course the advert didn’t tell Una, that the locals weren’t very welcoming, in fact they are quite hostile and suspicious of any strangers. She also wasn’t told that her room would be in an attic .which is rumoured to be haunted by a young girl who had died there .Add to that the long dark hours and fog, and anyone would find it a little creepy.

Una is the main narrator, but there are parts interspersed told by a second narrator which gives clues to a second secret, but the past is threatening to disrupt the peace that the townsfolk are trying to keep desperately quiet. There is a second subplot within the story, when a strange man turns up at the house, looking for directions to a farm and the female owner. Una learns something that prompts her to call the police, but when the policeman arrives, Una’s landlady says she had been drinking too much and had made a mistake. Who was the stranger? Why was he turning up looking for the woman in the middle of winter? She soon realises the villagers have secrets and have joined together to keep any crimes to themselves. Una finds herself with a dilemma, wanting to do the correct thing, but as she starts to feel part of the community she feels she has to keep their secrets.

This is a slow paced atmospheric read, evoking a claustrophobic feeling to the isolation and remoteness of the small hamlet. The loneliness literally jumps off the page at you, with the long dark hours, and cold winter weather.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #penguinMichaelJoseph for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

I chose to download a copy of this novel as a review copy because I am intrigued by the rugged landscape of Iceland, and intrigued by the how this landscape impacts the communities it houses. Having visited Reykjavik and toured some of the National Parks, I could only imagine what life would be like for those in the more rural areas. This novel explores a tiny town of only 10 inhabitants and describes the experiences of a young teacher from Reykjavik who goes to teach the young girls here.

The novel is a mix of a ghost story and a mystery. The main bulk of the book is about Una, a young teacher looking for new experiences who moves to the tiny town on Skalar. The inhabitants are not very friendly and quite intimidating. And there’s the issue of the room she is renting, well known for being haunted by the ghost of a young girl. Things go reasonably well for Una, who gets on with teaching her young charges - two young girls differing wildly in personality and temperament. But tragedy strikes during the Christmas Show, and there’s a mysterious visitor to the town no one wants to talk about.

Throughout the book there are italicised segments from an unknown narrator about a crime he or she has been imprisoned for. We gradually learn more and more about the crime, and suspect the narrator is innocent, but it is not until the denouement of the novel that we discover the links between the plots.

Jonasson creates a bleak and haunting picture of the small, isolated town. It is easy to believe that such a place may have influence from spirits and the supernatural whether malignant or not. However, the plot did not always tie together naturally for me - particularly where the plot and sub plot combined. I also found Una’s choices at the end to be a bit bizarre - and unbelievable. However, maybe she had been influenced by the town itself. The town of Skalar seems to take on the role of a character - the villain of the piece - enabling and encouraging the other characters to commit morally questionable acts.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Penguin Michael Joseph UK, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

Ragnar Jónasson has this amazing capability to use the setting of the story to extremely good use. This is my 2nd book by the author and in both the books, I am left with a feeling of awe with the kind of atmosphere he creates in delivering the stories. The Girl Who Died is set in one of the remotest places on the earth that one would always want to run away screaming at the top of their lungs. The winters are so bleak and with only 10, just 10 people living in this village, there seems to be no life in one of the harshest and bleakest places on earth. However, for the residents of Skalar, this is not a hardship, their motto in life being, “One can get used to anything”. So why would anyone choose to spend a winter in this place but as the saying goes, choices are easy when you have nothing to lose, and thus Una decides to offer her services as a teacher to 2 girls in the village answering the newspaper advertisement.

Una expects a warm and cozy welcome but the villagers are tightly knit and their general suspicion of an outsider makes Una uneasy and disturbed. The haunting stories and the ghostly visits begin to play havoc with Una’s peace of mind. Very soon, Una realizes that there are some deadly secrets hidden in the village and it is not her drunken traumatized mind playing tricks with her sanity.

The claustrophobic effect of the place and the ghost of the girl visiting Una in her dreams adds a layer of intrigue to this chilling tale. The mystery unveils slowly and as the end comes cascading down with the speed of an avalanche, the reader is left reeling with the reveals of the mystery of both past and present.

A fantastic page-turner that is guaranteed to leave you astonished! Awesome thriller!

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India, Meduim.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

I have really enjoyed the other novels by Ragnar Jonasson, but this one, I'm afraid, was distinctly average. Set in a remote Icelandic village, it had all the elements of a Scandi noir that I love: atmosphere, sense of alienation and isolation. However it lacked the icy scenic descriptions that are a major part of the genre, and I found I did not particularly care about the main character and her self-imposed predicament in an attic room of her host's house. The ghostly elements were very sparse and unconvincing, I felt, and the interwoven case that is supposedly at the heart of the village mystery was equally sketchy and unengaging. Rather a disappointing read for me, I'm afraid.

"When she finally reached it, the tiny hamlet of Skálar was wreathed in dense cloud and now the feeling was more like being in a folk tale an ominous, supernatural tale, set in a vague, shifting world...there had been nothing natural about her decision to turn her life upside down and promise to spend nearly a year out her at the edge of the the habitable world."

In 1980s Reykjavik, Iceland, thirty year old Una is lonely and restless. Encouraged by her friend Sara, she applies for and is accepted as a teacher of two children in Skálar, a tiny fishing hamlet with a population of ten, on a rural and isolated peninsular. She is to stay in an attic flat in an old house in Skálar, teaching the girls during the day. Aside from Salka, her landlady and mother of one of the girls she teaches, the villagers are guarded and unwelcoming. She assumes they simply distrust outsiders from the city and plans to gain their trust. But when she learns the house is haunted, by a young girl, Thra, who died there in the 1920s, events take a creepy turn. Something is seriously wrong in Skálar. What secrets are the locals keeping, is Thra haunting her and will Una find out what is happening in Skálar?

My first read, a standalone novel, by this author, who has earned worldwide acclaim for his Icelandic crime fiction. The landscape and climate are a vital part of the atmosphere, as is Una's isolation and vulnerability, exacerbated by her drinking. Told primarily from Una's perspective, there is fear, terror and suspense; a mysterious narrative from an unknown character links to a past crime. The author paints a stark picture on rural Icelandic life in the 1980s, when so many creature comforts were unavailable. Una's plight is expertly and vividly conveyed as the reader hopes for the best for her, stuck at the end of the world. Claustrophobic, chilling and atmospheric, fans of psychological thrillers will love this icy mystery!

Iceland always looks a lovely place to visit, but after reading this story I may well keep away from this special and very small village. With just ten folks living in the village the new school teacher with just two pupils is destined to fail from the outset, or will she prevail?

This most enjoyable read left me wondering until the very end. Were they ghosts or real people? Were the villagers' stories true?

Trying to decide who might be the guilty party was always going to be difficult; I thought it might be the lady at the farm with the man fancied by our lead character, but the village elders were set up by this writer to be potential problems.

I’ll read more by this author because they know how to tell a story, even when based on so few characters and in a small village. This kept me page turning right to the end. I was hoping for more children to join the school, but the opposite may be true!

‘The Girl Who Died’ is a creepy, atmospheric tale set in a tiny, isolated hamlet in Iceland. Una is tired of her monotonous life teaching in Rekyavic, for little money. When the chance of moving to somewhere new comes up, she decides to take a leap into the unknown. But moving to a community filled with secrets and odd characters is not what she expected. Far from it.

There’s a darkness and heaviness hanging over the whole story. A feeling that no one is telling the truth. The atmosphere was scary and stifling and, like Una, I didn’t know who to trust. The tension was ramped up and the creepiness quotient was amplified to an almost unbearable level. I couldn’t get enough. The story kept me gripped and surprised me. It’s one I won’t forget.

I was given this ARC to review.

I am a great fan of Scandinavian crime novels even though I usually start off a review with how slow they can be. However this book is based in a very remote part of Iceland is not quite up to the level I enjoy.
This story is about crime where people have been wrongly imprisoned for a murder/murders they did not commit, also a peculiar story about a very weird village with an odd haunted house.
I have to admit that I did some speed reading and in conclusion I'm not certain if I enjoyed it or not!

🌟B O O K R E V I E W🌟

The Girl Who Died - Ragnar Jónasson

‘𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓃 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜?’

Una takes a teaching g job in a tiny village of 10 people in Iceland tagged as being at the edge of the world to get away from her current life.
It is not the idyllic dream she thought it might be. The teaching is not difficult, just 2 girls, but, the villagers are not very welcoming, some of them are almost threatening and the atmosphere is strained.
She discovers that a girl died in the house she is staying in and soon is plagued by dreams of the girl singing a haunting lullaby.

The narrative moved quite quickly for me as the sentences are short and I read this book quickly. I liked Una as a character, she is clearly a troubled soul with issues going on from her old life. There are cut aways to a different story abut a murder which runs alongside and it is difficult to fathom if they are connected in some way. Thor and Selka are the only two other characters that I liked and who seem vaguely friendly, but it feels like you are an outsider, just like Una, being drip fed information and that everything will unravel or come to a head pretty quickly.

‘𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒’𝓈 𝒶𝒷𝓈𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝒻𝓇𝒶𝒾𝒹 𝑜𝒻.’

The scenes at night in the dark, with Una hearing sounds heightens the tension and mystery. We’ve all heard creaks in the night and seen shapes that aren’t there and had nightmares and this is used to fantastic effect. It really plays on your innate fears and makes you jumpy! The gaslighting of Una that occurs is clever and creates an overwhelming sense of being trapped that you can’t escape.
The blankness of the villagers adds to the creepy atmosphere - they are secretive and unfriendly. A dark, brooding atmosphere is created and you can visualise the village, closed off from the world. There is a sense of foreboding reading this that I couldn’t shake off.

The two stories collide with a very clever and then shockingly sad end which felt quite poignant to me.

I simply loved this chilling, creeping ghostly story, you won’t want to put it down!

✩✩✩✩

I enjoyed this book partly due to the location as I've been to Iceland twice and really love the country. The story is set in 1985 which seems a strange choice but I suspect it to get around the fact that no where is really as remote as portrayed here nowadays since the birth of the Internet and social media..

Una, the main character, decides to take a teaching job in Skálar on the Langanes peninsula in the north west of Iceland - about as far from her home in Reykjavík as you can get. Skálar is a tiny village of only 10 adults and two children who she will be teaching.

I was expecting a psychological thriller but the book has a supernatural theme as well. I enjoyed the story and the remoteness of the community but I did constantly question why Una was continuing to live there when it seemed like everyone was being unfriendly or ever downright abusive towards her. Just one of many incidents when happened and I'd have got in my car and driven back to Reykjavík. It was a lovely book to read though and I enjoyed the read as well as the ending.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review..

A great fan of Scandinavian crime noir however this book based in Iceland is not quite up to par. This story has crime where people have been wrongly imprisoned for a murder/murders they did not commit, also a weird story about an even weirder village with an even weirder haunted house. I did read to the very end but can’t decide if I enjoyed it or not!

This novel, set in the mid-1980s, follows Una, a supply teacher in Reykjavik who had the behest of her friend Sara applies for a job in a small town on the edge of Iceland. The job is role of a teacher in this village of ten inhabitants. Una takes on the role of teacher for two young girls. However this town has a creepy story involving a girl who died tragically in the 1920s. Then Una starts to have visions of a girl...And it isn’t long after one of her students passes away...

I really wanted to like this book. It has all the ingredients of what I was looking for in a supernatural psychological suspense read alas I found it dreadfully boring. The writing is overall repetitive drumming again the imagery of the haunting girl who sings lullabies to Una at night and the description of how isolated the place, incidentally which the characters themselves mention a hundred times. Not much happens until 50% when of the students mysteriously dies. We have some plot then, but overall this was dreadful.

This a very atmospheric and creepy tale set in Iceland telling the story of Una a schoolteacher who has taken a teaching post in a small community of just 10 people. It’s a story of ghostly sightings of a young girl, secrets and some very unwelcoming characters towards Una who finds herself struggling to fit in amidst the claustrophobic atmosphere of the village. I love Scandi/Icelandic noir there is always such a deep and dark element to the books and this one is full of that. The characters especially were all weird and disturbing, the story was chilling and as the book progressed the feeling of menace built up more and more.
So I really enjoyed the book it was a quick read and had a surprise ending for me my only quibble was something was missing somehow but I can’t explain what!
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

With thanks to netgalley and ragnar jónasson for the copy in return for an honest opinion.
Having read all this authors books and totally loved every single one Afraid this one just didn't hit that spot its excellently written and the atmosphere was there which is his signature but it lacked reliability, sorry not for me

‘Teacher wanted at the edge of the world’. Una responds to this advertisement to teach just two girls in the remote hamlet of Skaler on the Langanes Peninsular. She lodges with Salka whose daughter Edda is one of her pupils. However, Una is repeatedly haunted by a child’s voice singing a lullaby and she catches glimpses of a girl in white. The story is told from the perspective of Una and interspersed with a second narrative which eventually leads her to unlocking the mystery enveloping Skalar.

This is a very atmospheric slow burner mystery with creepy, chilling, Gothic overtones. The mood of the storytelling matches the remoteness of the featureless, desolate landscape which as winter closes in and a darkness descends is reflected in a few of the people that make up this small, tight knit community. From the start Una senses a claustrophobic hostility descending on her like a cloak and there are uncomfortable off notes throughout as she is excluded by some residents. The characterisation is good and the author creates a feeling about them which emanates from the pages. The strange dynamics they exude is intriguing and adds to the aura of unease. The writing is clever because much of this is just a suggestion of something but you feel it none the less. The ghostly supernatural element is very good and it feels real to Una. The storyline builds along with Una’s persistence in trying to get to the heart of the truth of the tragedies that befall this community and their conspiracy to prevent her. The two narratives come together well at the end along with acceptance.

Overall, a good, enjoyable and intriguing read and perfect for fans of slow building Icelandic/Nordic Noir.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

An atmospheric thriller telling the story of Una, who unhappy with her life in Reykjavík decides to take the position as teacher of the two only kids in the village of Skalar. But once she arrives, Una quickly realises nothing in city life has prepared her for this. The villagers are unfriendly. The weather is bleak. And, from the creaky attic bedroom of the old house where she's living, she's convinced she hears the ghostly sound of singing.
Una worries that she's losing her mind. And then, just before midwinter, a young girl from the village is found dead. Now there are only nine villagers left - and Una fears that one of them has blood on their hands . . .

This was an entertaining story, although it lacked the usual turns and twists we are used in thrillers. The pace was a bit slow but it caught my interest nonetheless.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book by Ragnar Jonasson I have read and I was expecting great things but found the story slow and a bit clunky. The story is set in the 1980s and the plot relies on the fact that there was no mobile technology back then. It is an atmospheric murder mystery set in the frozen wild lands of Finland but for me it was heavy going and not a book I enjoyed.