“The past is a foreign country,” said L. P. Hartley, but for the family in Guđrún Guđlaugsdóttir’s A Lethal Legacy, the past is not so much a foreign country but their entire world – a spectre that haunts the present. First published in Iceland in 2018 as Erfđaskráin, the work now reaches an English-speaking audience for the first time in a translation by Quentin Bates.
While set in the present, the past remains key to unlocking this plot. When an elderly farmer, Brynjólfur, is found dead in his bed, nothing initially seems wrong. Having turned 80 and on medication for a weakened immune system, death was always lurking in the wings. Yet something seems amiss: for a man paranoid about the cold since a childhood infection, his bedroom window being wide open – despite the Icelandic chill – and the timing of his death, coming the day after drafting his will, seems more than coincidence.
Living with two elderly siblings in a house virtually unchanged since the early 1900s, Brynjólfur’s life may outwardly seem basic and uneventful, but family secrets run deep, and there’s more going on than first appears.
It’s a perfect hunting ground for journalist Alma Jónsdóttir, drawn to the remote cottage following a panicked call from her daughter, a nurse engaged to care for Brynjólfur and his two elderly sisters. When it soon becomes apparent that Brynjólfur’s death may not be of natural causes, Alma is drawn into a decades-old tale of long-hidden secrets and resentment.
Guđrún Guđlaugsdóttir’s work is something of a slow burner. There’s no shock or gore here, nor fast-paced action. Instead, Guđlaugsdóttir focuses on character, slowly drawing us into family dynamics resplendent with all the sibling rivalry, parental conflict, and indignities of ageing. Of course, any good family drama has darkness skulking behind the public exterior, and Guđlaugsdóttir weaves this subtly but effectively through the slowly unravelling plot.
We never meet the elderly farmer Brynjólfur in person, discovered dead on page one, but his death proves catalytic. His long-held wish for his home to be turned into a museum of rural Icelandic life becomes a central theme. The dream also lies at the heart of conflict between the three siblings: Brynjólfur and sister Klara are in favour, while elder sister Thórdis is vehemently opposed – for reasons unknown.
Guđlaugsdóttir’s work is multilayered, taking time to draw detailed portraits of the family, the surrounding community, and the outsiders who find themselves entangled in this close-knit and somewhat secretive world. It’s an approach that delivers thoughtfully crafted personalities but also some challenges for the reader. With a large number of supporting characters dropping in and out of the plot, it does require close attention to keep track of who is who.
For English readers, there’s much here about Icelandic culture from a bygone age that could prove a barrier, but Quentin Bates’ translation guides the reader through this maze, painting a landscape that becomes universal.
Guđlaugsdóttir doesn’t give us all the answers, and like all good family sagas there’s much left unresolved – the unspoken past remaining a battlefield to be crossed another time. A former journalist herself, Guđlaugsdóttir clearly revels in the idea of a journalist turned sleuth, and while A Lethal Legacy is her English-language debut, Alma Jónsdóttir has already featured in several Icelandic novels – suggesting English readers could soon see more from this author.
A Lethal Legacy by Guđrún Guđlaugsdóttir, translated by Quentin Bates, is published by Corylus Books and out now
