Magma

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What to expect

‘A compulsive and propulsive debut’ - Lily King

‘A luminous and poetic novel . . . [Hjörleifsdóttir] has created a whole new landscape for storytelling’ - John Freeman

Twenty-year-old Lilja is in love.

He is older and beautiful, a Derrida-quoting intellectual.

He is also a serial cheater, gaslighter and narcissist.

Lilja will do anything to hold on to him.

And so she accepts his deceptions and endures his sexual desires. She rationalizes his toxic behaviour and permits him to cross all her boundaries. In her desperation to be the perfect lover, she finds herself unable to break free from the toxic cycle. And then an unexpected ultimatum: an all-consuming love, or the promise of a life reclaimed.

Thora Hjörleifsdóttir explores the darkest corners of relationships, exposing the undercurrents of violence that often go undetected. In an era of growing pornification, she deftly illustrates the failings of our culture to recognize symptoms of cruelty. In visceral, poetic prose, translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich, Magma depicts the unspooling of a tender-hearted young woman aching to love and be loved.

Critics Review

Magma is profane, funny, and uncomfortably honest about what happens when we substitute someone’s image of us for self-knowledge.
Vulture
A compulsive, propulsive debut about a young woman’s exploration of love and sex . . . Thora Hjörleifsdóttir’s narrator pulls us into the tale of her near undoing and her struggle to find her own value.
Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers
A luminous and poetic novel . . . How to describe the slow escalation by which possession becomes control, and power abuse? [Hjörleifsdóttir] has created a whole new landscape for storytelling.
John Freeman, author of How to Read a Novelist
A novel that speaks directly to its present age . . . An incredibly compelling book
Iceland National Radio
Bulleted, candid, first-person prose that parallels the quickness in which women’s lives can become less their own.
Lit Hub
Unsettling . . . an achingly plausible mix of verve and bluntness . . . Throughout, Hjörleifsdóttir's fresh prose disturbingly evokes the young woman’s unmoored state. The burnished micro-chapters form a narrative necklace of gems.
Publishers Weekly
Hjörleifsdóttir's heart-wrenching American debut is a raw and empathetic depiction of a woman so subtly manipulated into an abusive relationship that she loses her sense of self and cannot find a way out . . . masterfully written
Booklist
Arresting . . . [Magma] urgently explores the challenges and costs of a young woman’s passionate yet toxic relationship.
Time, 'Best Books of Summer 2021'
Beautifully spare prose . . . A powerful excavation of what can go wrong when you love another.
Literary Hub, '38 Novels You Need to Read This Summer'
Mesmerizing . . . Hjörleifsdóttir dives deep into the fire-rivers of lust, just how much humiliation we’re willing to tolerate in the name of love.
Oprah Daily

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