Freya Morris lives an almost nocturnal existence working in a basement photography studio in Manhattan - when she is summoned back to the formative place of her youth, a remote Icelandic-Canadian village called Gimli, where her ancient grandmother clings to life. Freya is the last in a remarkable family line. Her immigrant grandfather, a famous poet, became the keeper of Iceland's cultural flame: a powerful blend of language, myth, history, and genealogy, all shaped by the challenge of living on a subarctic island covered by vast lava fields and immense glaciers. After a massive volcanic eruption, he and thousands of others had fled Iceland for America and Canada. With her widowed mother, Freya spent her childhood summers in Gimli, visiting her grandmother and aunt Birdie, a brilliant but troubled woman who saw in Freya a kindred spirit. On one visit, a freak accident and its aftermath made Freya's life a confusing blend of secrecy, shame, and exile from her roots. Two decades later, in Gimli to see her grandmother for the last time, Freya picks up the thread of a family secret - one which leads her on a dramatic quest through the past she has nearly forgotten, culminating in Iceland past and present. A beautifully written novel of an immigrant family and a little-known nation's unusual culture, "The Tricking of Freya" is a beguiling debut.