A lyrically quiet celebration of community from Denmark. Continuing where the Danish titles Crow-Girl (2004) and Eidi (2009) left off, Bredsdorff’s newest translation returns to the peaceful Crow Cove, where a mismatched band of friends and relations are trying to start a new life. Young Tink, blaming himself for allowing the food crop to be destroyed by livestock, finds and rescues an old drunk named Burd with a violent past. There are people in Tink’s community who ran away just to get as far as they could from this man, yet it is through Burd that Tink learns to fish and discovers that there is more to a person than their worst qualities. More than just a story of survival, this is a tale about creating a community and settling down where you are safe and loved. There is no denying the author’s acuity for lyrical language. Readers would be well advised, however, to make a point to read the previous two books in the series should they wish for the revelations made throughout the book to have any kind of an impact. It’s a lovely story, but without the requisite background knowledge it will fail to carry the proper weight. Readers who make the investment in reading the two prior titles will find themselves well rewarded. (Fiction. 9-12)
