Winter Dark is a thriller for kids and adults alike. It is a page turner that you’ll find hard to put down. Our story starts with Bergljót who is on her way to school the day before the winter break. She’s looking forward to her days off, and especially to the party being planned for Year 10. Her parents are planning a romantic getaway and Bergljót and her brother, Bragi, will be staying with friends.

But a change of plans takes Bergljót and Bragi off to the summerhouse with their dad while their mum has to stay at home for work. Berglind is upset, sure that she is in for a very dull time, but when her brother and father go for a game of football on a nearby field they walk into a horrific scene; boys on the football field are vomiting and dropping dead one after the other. It soon becomes evident that this is no ordinary plague.

Winter Dark is superbly penned, bloody and brutal, the characters are complex and believable, and the gruesome plotline is well executed, like a horrible waking dream.

Awards and nominations

• Selected for the IBBY Honour List 2018

• Awarded the Icelandic Women’s Prize for YA literature 2016

• Runner up for the Icelandic Bookseller’s Prize for best YA Book 2015

• Nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize for Best Children’s and YA Book 2016

• Nominated for the Reykjavík Children’s Literature Prize 2016

Reviews

“Exceedingly well written story, the violence is a pleasantly bloody and brutal, the characters are ambiguos and credible and the disasters it describes are well orchestrated, it‘s like a terrifying daydream. And then there‘s an exceptionally clever spin in the end ... which makes you laugh out loud. Very well done. "
Arni Matthiasson / Morgunbladid daily

"Brutally real and wonderfully scary horror story ... I guess Winter Dark is the novel where most Icelanders are openly eaten – kudos to Knutsdottir for managing to write about it in such a way that the reader is sufficiently frightened but without filling every page with torn flesh, blood and other body fluids... extremely exciting, fast paced and well written story - the first of its kind on the Icelandic YA market but hopefully not the last. I look forward to reading the sequel. "
Helga Birgisdottir / Hugras

"The book is fun and the style of writing and narrative flow is effortless ... well-written horror that leaves the reader anxiously waiting for a sequel."
Tinna Eiríksdottir / Sirkustjaldid