“The Blue Fox is a magical novel.”—BjorkThe year is 1883, and the stark Icelandic landscape is the backdrop for this spellbinding fable that is part mystery, part fairy tale. The fates of a priest, a naturalist, and a young woman with Down syndrome are intrinsically bound and gradually, surprisingly unraveled."Sjon's fable…describes its world with brilliant, precise, concrete colour and detail while at the same time making things and people mysterious and ungraspable…The world of 19th-century Iceland is brilliantly and economically present: the bareness of the dwellings, the roughness of the churches and congregations, the meager food…The novel is a parable, comic, and lyrical about the nature of things." — A.S. Byatt for The TimesSjon was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1962. A novelist, playwright, lyricist, and poet, he wrote the lyrics to Bjork’s hit songs “Isobel,” “Joga,” and “Bachelorette” and was nominated for an Academy Award for his lyrics to the music for the film Dancer in the Dark, directed by Lars von Trier.

"An extraordinary, powerful fable — a marvel." — Alberto Manguel"Sjón writes like a man under a spell, filled with enchantment and magic and great wit. He is a rogue of the first order." — Keith DonohueThe year is 1949 and Valdimar Haraldsson, an eccentric Icelander with elevated ideas about the influence of fish consumption on Nordic civilization, has had the singular good fortune to be invited to join a Danish merchant ship on its way to the Black Sea.Among the crew is the mythical hero Caeneus, disguised as the second mate. Every evening after dinner he entrances his fellow travelers with the tale of how he sailed with the fabled vessel, the Argo, on the Argonauts' quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece.Sjón is a celebrated poet, novelist, and songwriter. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages, and include From the Mouth of the Whale and The Blue Fox (both Telegram Books). In 2005 Sjón won the Nordic Council Literary Prize, the equivalent of the Man Booker Prize, for The Blue Fox and Best Icelandic Novel for The Whispering Muse. Sjón has written lyrics for Björk, including for her most recent musical project, Biophilia. He lives in Reykjavik, Iceland.Victoria Cribb lived in Iceland for many years. She now lives in England, where she is completing a PhD in Old Icelandic literature at the University of Cambridge. Her translations include three novels in collaboration with Olaf Olafsson.