The Tower at the Edge of the World

'The Tower at the Edge of the World' is William Heinesen's last novel written when he was 76 and is the summation of all his work. There is the perspective of both the child and old man looking back at his life as a child. Although there is a lot of tangible detail and recognisable characters the book has a mythic quality. The events in a small community in the windswept Atlantic ocean being recorded by the writer in his room, his tower at the edge of the world, have a larger than life feel. Torshaven, in the Faroe Islands and his childhood are used to tell the history of the world and of creation.