The Local Joke (2014)

“My name is Klara, and I live in a pigsty in Hafnarfjordur. Every day, I’m committed to an institution with the other teenagers in the neighborhood. The institution is called Vidistaðir School, and it stands in a secluded spot in the middle of a lava field. And that’s where I stay, along with the other fifteen-year-old maniacs in the tenth grade.”

In December 1999, Klara is left with her grandmother while her parents go on a holiday to the Canary Islands. The school’s Christmas ball looms on the horizon, as well as a popularity contest and a string of bizarre dates at the town’s only café. As if that isn’t trying enough for Klara, she also learns of her elderly relatives’ curious and compelling past which has come back to hunt her. The Local Joke is an uproarious story for teens and young adults of all ages.

• The Icelandic Literary Prize for Children and Young People’s books • The Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize 2014 • The Icelandic Booksellers‘ Prize