We had the most wonderful ‘fireside chat’ of an event with Sally Magnusson last night – what a treat!

She swept us away to the Orkney Islands by way of Norse Goddess, Hel – spoiler alert, Loki is the real monster of the story…

Sally Magnusson discussed her spellbinding feminist retelling of the Norse myth of Hel, Goddess of the Underworld, set in the magical landscape of Orkney.

Before she was a monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of Asgard by Odin, Hel’s fate as the terrible goddess of death is sealed. Until one day a memory shifts, and she is forced to seek out the sun in Midgard, where humans have made their home.

Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Helen Firth makes the impulsive decision to return to Orkney after forty years to make peace with her past. Under the wintering
solstice sun, she reconnects with the ungainly but affable Thorfinn, who helps her address the real reason she has returned to the islands: to die.

As Helen draws closer to death and ever closer to Thorfinn, Hel is intrigued by Helen. She, too, has a past to confront and a lesson to learn…

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This event was held at the Mainstreet Trading Company in the barn and can only be accessed by stairs.

Please read our accessibility guide for more information.