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Historical Fiction

Mariella Frostrup talks to Icelandic novelist Sjon, whose new book, Moonstone: The Boy That Never Was, won the Literary Prize and the Booksellers' Novel of the Year in Iceland.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Icelandic novelist Sjon. His new book Moonstone The Boy Who Never Was won both the Literary Prize and the Booksellers' Novel of the Year in his home country and is now being published in the UK. It's set in 1918 and tells the story of a teenage boy, obsessed by films, who witnesses huge changes in Iceland when a flu epidemic sweeps through the population.
And what is historical fiction? Mariella and guests look at the changing face of the genre, from swashbuckling adventures to fictionalizing our recent past.

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28 minutes

Chapters

  • Jerome De Groot and Alistair Moffat

    Duration: 07:37

  • Anne O'Brien

    Duration: 03:37

  • Sjon

    Duration: 11:25

  • Stephanie Merrit

    Duration: 04:25

Read the opening chapter of Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjon

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Mariella Frostrup
Interviewed Guest Sjon

Broadcasts

  • Sun 12 Jun 2016 16:00
  • Thu 16 Jun 2016 15:30

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