Miss Smilla's flair for snow
Audiobook
Miss Smilla's flair for snow
Long before Lisbeth Salander, Smilla, a northerner with an extraordinary flair for snow
The footprints in the snow are like a familiar text for glaciologist Smilla Qaavigaaq Jaspersen, half Greenlander and half Dane. When six-year-old Isaiah's fatal fall from the snow-covered roof of a Copenhagen apartment building is ruled an accident, she is convinced the police have made a mistake. The Inuit boy, neglected by his alcoholic mother, often sought refuge with her, and Smilla knows how terrified he was of heights. Unlike the police, he can tell from the footprints that the child was running from danger. Remembering her agreement with Isaiah to never let him down, she sets out to discover the circumstances of his death.
An exceptionally intelligent and reclusive scientist, wary of the lingering racism against Eskimos, she is more comfortable with numbers than people. On a harrowing journey, full of manipulation and violence, she benefits from the resilience and instincts inherited from her indigenous mother-hunter. Her odyssey takes her through the archives of a shady company conducting hidden scientific experiments and the Copenhagen underworld to a ship sailing on a secret mission to the frozen north. There are more of Isaiah's footprints waiting for her. And something else, hidden under the ice.
The most famous work of late 20th century Danish literature, defining the modern form of Nordic crime fiction, has been translated into more than 30 languages and sold millions of copies. Oscar-winning director Bill August made a feature film based on it with Julia Ormond, Gabriel Byrne and Richard Harris. In 2025, a new series adaptation was made, directed by British filmmaker Amma Asante and starring Danish-Greenlandic actress Filippa Coster-Waldau.
They wrote about the book:
Høeg has created an irresistible heroine. Despite her flamboyant misanthropy, Smilla Jaspersen has far more sympathy for human frailty than she is willing to admit. Spending time in her company is a pleasure.
- The New York Times
milla is always believable in her contradictions - she is sarcastic, caring, Overthinking, impulsive, determined and above all rebellious (...) Dark, The thrilling and gripping story is a real find.
- Publishers Weekly
Peter Hoeg
Peter Hoeg was born in 1957 in Copenhagen. He studied literature at the local university and then worked as a dancer, steward on luxury yachts and a gym teacher, among other things. In 1988 he debuted with his novel Imaginings of the Twentieth Century (Forestilling om det tyvende arhundrede, no. 2003), which attracted considerable attention in Denmark and won its author several literary prizes. This was followed in 1990 by the short story collection Stories of a Night (Fortallinger om natten, no. 1999), the new Czech edition of which you are now holding in your hands. In 1992 Peter Hoeg achieved worldwide success with his novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (Froken Smillas fornemmelse for sne, no. 1997). In 1993 he published his novel When the Time Comes (De maske egnede, no. 2007), which provoked a stormy reaction in Denmark because of its merciless depiction of the dark side of the Danish education system. Another novel, the 1996 moral Kvinden og aben (Woman and Monkey), was torn down by critics and the author went into silence for ten years. In 2006 he published the fantastic thriller The Silent Girl (Den stille pige, no. 2009), and won the favour of a wide readership again in 2010 with the novel Children of Elephant Keepers (Elefantpassernes born, no. 2012). Hoeg's books have been translated into more than thirty languages and are published exclusively in the Czech Republic by Argo, most recently in 2018 with the novel Susan's Effect (Effekten af Susan).
