Sigrun does everything she can to avoid hearing about the apocalyptic “situation” that is consuming her parents' attention. She's relieved when her family—and the rest of the word—decide to hibernate until the problem is solved, but when she accidentally wakes up too early, she finds that the wilderness has overrun her city. Sigrun is discovered by a group of children who were released from hibernation early, and along with a researcher named Grace, they work to solve the “situation.” When Grace reveals that it was all caused by an ancient, fairytale-like curse, Sigrun realizes that she and her friends need to work together to fix the world.

2013, Icelandic Literary Prize winner for Children and Young People's Books. 2013, Icelandic Booksellers Best Teenage Book of the Year. 2020 GLLI YA Translated Book Prize Shortlist. 2020 Green Earth Awards Honor Book.

Andri Snær Magnason has written novels, poetry, plays, short stories and essays, largely focussing on global environmental collapse.

Icelandic. Originally published in Iceland as Timakistan by Mál og menning in 2013. English translation by Björg Arnadóttir & Andrew Cauthery published in the United States by Restless Books/Yonder in 2019.

“A rose can rest in the casket for a thousand years without fading. An egg can remain there for centuries without going bad. A person could lie there for a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, completely protected from time."

 

What happens when the world starts to fall apart, and no one will take responsibility for mending it? Sigrun’s family, along with everyone else, finds refuge from the crisis in a new technology called TimeBox®, which lets you hibernate until the world’s problems solve themselves. But Sigrun’s TimeBox® opens early, and she wakes to a city in chaos, overrun by nature.

 

Sigrun joins a roving band of kids and a wise researcher named Grace, who tells them of the ancient kingdom of Pangea, and the greedy king who wanted to protect his daughter Obsidiana from pain, gloomy days, and growing older by putting her in a silken casket that time could not penetrate. But Obsidiana learns that sabotaging time is a dangerous business, with effects that ripple outward even to the present day. Sigrun realizes it’s up to her and her friends to face the crisis, break the curse, and fix the world before it’s too late!

 

Winner of The Icelandic Literary Prize for Children and Young

 

People’s Books Winner of The Icelandic Booksellers Prize for Best Teenage Book of the Year Nominated for the Nordic Council

 

Children and Young People’s Literature Prize Winner of the The West Nordic Literature Prize

 

Winner of the Reykjavik Children’s Literature Prize

 

“The story confronts the concept of time and twists old fairy-tale memories with a passionate creativity.”

—The Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize Citation

 

“Andri Snær Magnason has created an intimate epic that floats effortlessly between genres as diverse as fairy tale and political commentary, science fiction and social realism. The Casket of Time spans the chasm between ‘once upon a time’ and ‘have you heard the news today’ in a way that makes his philosophical fable feel both timely and timeless.”

—Bjarke Ingels

 

“The largest box of chocolate written in the Icelandic language that I have ever laid my hands on... This is confectionery for the mind!... This is a book for the 3 year old, the 30 year old, the 300 year old.”


—Audur Haraldsdóttir, Channel 2, National Radio (Iceland)

 

“The power of story animates a tale that communicates—but is not overpowered by—urgent messages.”

— Kirkus Reviews