Books

A young man arrives in Munich from a magical island in the north to study painting. He’s never been to a restaurant or a pub, never had a beer, but he knows exactly what he wants to be: an artist.

Almost sick with shyness, the student has to battle through even though he doesn’t speak a word of German. At the Academy of Arts he remains an outsider: the latest fad, Die Neuen Wilden (the New Wild Painting), is not for him. The world outside, too, is much colder than on the island. The Cold War is at its zenith, and the young man wakes up every morning fearing that World War Three has already broken out. On top of everything, it becomes apparent that he has a strange gift that doesn’t make him very appealing… Helgason’s hero is just like his author: quirky, full of humour and brilliantly maladjusted.

Praise for Seasick in Munich

‘The characters Helgason comes up with are really magnificent. You immediately fall for his cracking, absurd fantasies.’ – Anne Haeming, Spiegel Online

‘A word acrobat, a storyteller in the vein of Grimmelshausen.’ – Uwe Stolzmann, Neue Züricher Zeitung

‘Like John Irving on speed.’ – Volker Huehn, Lift