Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Danish (Faroe Islands) by Glyn Jones – Published 1976

This is ideal reading for anyone contemplating a trip to the Faroe Islands in that it is particularly strong on local culture and the characters that inhabit the small wind and rainswept communities. I’ve seen its described as the ‘Under Milk Wood’ of the Faroes, which is quite accurate, though not quite as amusing as its Welsh sister.
I visited the Heinesen Museum yesterday, in Tórshavn, but other than being able to take a few photographs from outside, was disappointed, as its only open in the summer, which is a very short period.

William Heinesen (born in 1900) was originally a poet and published his first novel in 1934, writing in Danish, though he spoke Faroese. I have now read two of his books, the first being The Lost Musicians which he wrote in 1950. As its title suggests, it is the story of a group of musicians who find sanctuary in their music amid a series of dramatic and tragic events, set in an unnamed tiny country somewhere in the North Atlantic..

But I enjoyed this much more. It is heavily autobiographical and based on a childhood viewed by an old man looking back. It is frequently humorous, and sufficiently abstract and episodic as to have a mythical quality to it; Tórshavn as a microcosm of the whole world and creation. It was, fittingly, Heineman’s last novel, written when he was 76, though he died in 1991.

He is hailed as one of the greatest Nordic writers of the twentieth century.

My GoodReads score 5 / 5