Veletoč – Thórarinsdóttir Arndís (2025)

Twelve-year-old Álf is an athlete, a good friend, and the best brother in the world. That is, until his parents announce that his younger brother Eiki has autism. Will Eiki's diagnosis affect the lives of each family member? How and to what extent does behavior toward Eiki need to change? And how will the family appear to others? Mom and Dad seem completely unaware that Eiki is still the same Eiki he was a month ago, that he is simply their son and Álf's beloved brother.
Álf, who tries not to think about any of this, trains six times a week in artistic gymnastics and dreams of participating in a training camp in Brazil. Meanwhile, he desperately wishes for his family to be normal. Or at least to be what he considers normal.
Veletoč is an impressive story about growing up, realizing how complicated life can be, and that nothing is black and white. It is also about conflicting emotions and the strong bond between siblings. Arndís ?órarinsdóttir has written it with the warmth and humor characteristic of her works.
The book won the prestigious Icelandic Literary Prize in 2022, and in 2023 it received the equally significant Fjöruver?laun award, given exclusively to female authors, and was also nominated for...