Errand Boy in the Mooseland Hills is a little-known classic of 19th-century Canadian literature, never before translated from the original Icelandic.

The book is based on Magnus Bjarnason's experiences as a young boy when he and his family migrated along with other Icelanders to the Mooseland Hills, in rural Nova Scotia. The stories chronicle his adventures as a hired hand working for a farm family, and then at a gold mine. The author introduces the men with whom he worked and retells stories that, like the Norse sagas, present men of strength and high principle tried by hard circumstances.

Errand Boy in the Mooseland Hills, presented to English audiences for the first time in this appealing translation by Borga Jakobson, will endure for its high literary quality and for its unmatched portrait of a rare chapter in Nova Scotia's rural life.

MAGNUS BJARNASON earned his living in Manitoba as a teacher and educator, but he was an active writer all his life producing (amongst other works) a novel and several plays as well as many shorter published works. Recognizing his achievements as a writer, the Parliament of Iceland conferred its highest honor, the Order of the Falcon, on Magnus on his 70th birthday.

Johan Magnus Bjarnason's profile page

Translator BORGA JAKOBSON was born in Geysir, Manitoba. Her first language is Icelandic. She attended the University of Manitoba and has maintained connections with her Icelandic roots and relatives.

Borga Jakobson's profile page