The unsolved case of a young girl’s disappearance reopens after twenty years in this atmospheric novel of suspense set in Reykjavík and the Icelandic coast.
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“Eerie and beguiling . . . Thors brilliantly rides the line between realism and myth . . . This will stay with readers.”—Publishers Weekly
“The threatened mother’s raw emotion and the book’s atmospheric pull are difficult to resist. A nifty generational thriller in which the past eerily overlaps the present.”—Kirkus Reviews“An eerie novel that will keep you up late into the night . . . Margrét Ann Thors beautifully evokes Iceland, with its cold winds, wave-battered cliffs, and mysterious folk tales. Gripping and heartfelt.”—Eowyn Ivey, New York Times bestselling author of The Snow Child and Black Woods, Blue Sky
“Mythic and atmospheric, Freyja tingles the senses like an incipient freeze. I love an icy noir that builds complicated relationships and unique settings, and Freyja fits the bill perfectly. A twisty, compelling read.”—Janelle Brown, author of national bestseller What Kind of Paradise
“Freyja is such an elegant and confident debut. Margrét Ann Thors depicts a mother's love as both fierce and fearsome, making the story feel mythic and grounded at once. An Icelandic tale, a haunting mystery, and a paean to the messy bonds of family.”—Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women
“A haunting, hypnotic novel that circles the slippery nature of memory and the fierce, disorienting terrain of motherhood. For readers of The School for Good Mothers and The Push, Freyja unfolds in a world where the past refuses burial and the land itself feels alive with old, watchful secrets. Margrét Ann Thors writes with a sharp, unflinching clarity about guilt, love, and the devastating cost of what we cannot remember. I couldn’t look away.”—Chelsea Bieker, bestselling author of Madwoman and Godshot
“A spectacularly eerie crime novel that draws on the mysteries of Icelandic folklore to deepen the uncertainties at its heart, Freyja had me turning pages late into the night!”—Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites“I was overwhelmed by this book—by sentences so sharp they could draw blood, by sheer adrenaline, by the wind and rock of Iceland, by the exploration of memory and grief, and most of all, by the unflinching deep dive into what motherhood means. There’s plenty of terror—and even more love—in these pages.”—Gin Phillips, author of Ruby Falls
“A dark, glittering jewel of a debut . . . Freyja is a singular novel about motherhood, grief, and the search for home not only in a place, but in the ones we love.”—Crystal Hana Kim, author of The Stone Home
“In haunting, razor-sharp prose, Thors conjures a vivid portrait of motherhood and myth, testing just how far the ties that bind us to our families, our histories, and our cultures can be stretched until they snap . . . Freyja will chill you to the bone, and have you grasping in the cold, dark night for a guiding hand—though you probably shouldn't trust whatever reaches for you, all the same.”—Melissa Larsen, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost House
“A spectacular novel that deftly defies genre, Freyja is gripping mystery and a literary tour de force . . . Set in a backdrop rich with folklore, it’s a page-turner, but try to resist turning the pages too quickly, lest you miss the grace of the prose and profound psychological insights. Original, stunning, and unforgettable.”—Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of Counting Backwards
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Unnur has secrets. A single mother to a beloved daughter, she lives a deliberately quiet life in Reykjavík, where she works at a bakery under an assumed last name. She has spent years pushing away haunting half remembrances of the last summer of her childhood, when her otherworldly friend Freyja disappeared from a black-sand beach in the remote Dark Valley. Unnur’s safety—and her daughter’s—now hinges on discretion. Yet when her ex-husband returns to Iceland and brings with him a new girlfriend who seems to know more about Unnur than she’s letting on, Unnur may finally have to face the chilling possibility that she is responsible for her friend’s presumed death.
As a cold case investigation reopens and the intricate threads of past and present begin to tangle, Unnur must race to recover the broken memory of what happened all those years ago, or risk losing her daughter. Steeped in Icelandic folklore and myth, Freyja is at once a gripping story of a child’s disappearance, a testament to the power of a mother’s love, and an enthralling tale of redemption and forgiveness from a gifted new voice.PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9781966302230
Price: $28.00
On-sale date: 8/4/2026
© Juliette Rowland
Margrét Ann Thors is an Icelandic-American writer based in Reykjavík, Iceland. She received her MFA from Columbia University and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the English department at the University of Iceland. Her writing has appeared in Glamour, Creative Nonfiction, Ós Pressan, Storychord, and other outlets. Freyja is her debut novel.