About the Author
Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in Globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland and deciding to write a novel – something she had wanted to do since she won a short-story competition at the age of fifteen. After nine months combining her writing with work as a stewardess and caring for her children, Eva finished The Creak on the Stairs.
It was published in 2018, and became a bestseller in Iceland. It also went on to win the Blackbird Award, a prize set up by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson to encourage new Icelandic crime writers. It was published in English by Orenda Books in 2020. Eva lives in Reykjavík with her husband and three children and is currently working on the third book in the Forbidden Iceland series.
Follow @evaaegisdottir on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads
About the Translator
Victoria Cribb is one of Icelandic literature's best-known translators into English, working with Arnaldur Indriðason, Sjón, and Gyrðir Elíasson, among others. She became interested in Iceland as a teenager and taught herself the language with a 1948 Linguaphone set.
About the book
When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, it is assumed that she’s taken her own life – until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?
Fifteen years earlier, a desperate new mother lies in a maternity ward, unable to look at her own child, the start of an odd and broken relationship that leads to tragedy.
Police officer Elma and her colleagues take on the case, which becomes increasingly complex, as the list of suspects grows ever longer and new light is shed on Maríanna’s past – and the childhood of a girl who never was like the others…
Review
This is the second book in the Forbidden Iceland series and whilst both books can be read as standalone novels I highly recommend reading the first - The Creak on the Stairs.
The story begins with a homicide, a less than perfect mother is found dead - is it suicide or something more nefarious? Elma starts to reconstruct the dysfunctional family structure and ties, which leads her in unusual directions. What kind of person treats her child like a hateful mistake? It's a multi-layered story with plenty of areas that are neither black or white. Imperfect people with perfect little secrets, the kind of secrets that destroy people.
I was actually quite interested by the fact both books are very much individual experiences, despite some of Elma's personal experiences and history flowing into this one. To the point where I had actually forgotten the connection. It's the kind of book, and series, that makes a readers want to go back to the beginning, because you will almost certainly miss something the first time round.
It has the same noirish dark vibe that is tinged with an element of suppressed rage, frustration and despair. Ægisdóttir doesn't shy away from speaking truths to the side of motherhood society likes to ignore to a certain extent. It isn't all rainbows and daisies, sometimes it can trigger hormonal responses, and of course there are just some people who shouldn't be mothers or parents at all. It's a kaleidoscope of human emotions and mistakes, which bounce of each other to deliver a captivating read.
Buy Girls Who Lie at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Orenda Books, pub date 22 July 2021 | Paperback Original | £8.99. Buy at Amazon com.
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