The Woman at 1,000 Degrees

I loved this novel! Herra Maria Bjornsson is one of the most refreshingly irreverent heroines I have read in a long time and her sense of humour frequently chimed perfectly with my own. The survivor of a long and frequently tragic life, Herra is now confined within a converted garage, but with a laptop and internet connection that still allows her to make mischief as far afield as Australia. She also has her vivid memories - of wartime Europe, Peron's Argentina and her beloved Iceland.

I'm not sure how much of what Herra remembers is true, how much is what she believes to be true, and how much is her having fun with her captive audience. Certainly I got to see aspects of the Second World War from a very different viewpoint to that I usually read in British novels. The destruction of cities and the continuous walking of streams of refugees is heart rending and a stark reminder of how Europe almost completely destroyed itself only a few generations ago. Herra's Icelandic perspective showed people in a unique light and her mickey taking of national characteristics injects a welcome lightening into scenes that could otherwise be unbearably dark.

The Woman At 1000 Degrees jumps around time periods scattering scenes from Herra's life almost randomly as certain of her memories lead into others. I liked piecing together how the innocent child caught by the war at twelve years old became the fervently independent woman and how her own desperate self-preservation led to her making the choices she did. In many ways, Herra's life is defined by the times through which she lived. In other ways, she was helpless in the face of paths chosen by those around her. I was reminded of the curse, 'may you live in interesting times'. Herra certainly managed to avoid a humdrum life, but at an overwhelmingly high price.

An octogenarian Icelander ruminates on her life from the confines of a hospital bed in someone’s garage.

I struggled with this one. Chapters 19 & 20 have some of the most beautiful language I’ve read in a long time. At other times Herra’s memoirs are slow going and uninspiring. At 300 & some pages it should have been an easygoing read but it felt like I was wading in this woman’s life for weeks and weeks, living the War in real time, especially at the end.

Very similar to the 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Only without the pace & drive.. The story meanders mostly through the second World War and Herrbjorg's struggles through Germany and Poland as an Icelander and a teenage girl.

Far from the dry/dark humour I was expecting from the blurb, this is a harrowing tale of a war survivor's life, and the struggles she faced even after the war was over

Read if you enjoy historical fiction, particularly from the second World War.
Read if you enjoyed Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah