In an old Arabic manual of medicine, it is said that the human heart is divided into two ventricles, one named fortune and the other named fear. Which one do you trust?

Given that there are two ventricles, it is possible to love two people simultaneously. Our bodies afford us this possibility. However, our conscience opposes it, complicating our lives.

In Himmal og helviti, the ocean and storm snatch away the boy’s dearest friend. In Harmur Einglanna, the boy and the postman find themselves caught in a thick snowstorm between villages, facing death.

In Hjarta mansins  (The Heart of Man), which is the third and final book by Jón Laman Stefánsson in the trilogy about the boy, the boy resides with Geirtruð, a determined and headstrong woman, who must fight for independence from the village merchants and other influential men. Fishing continues to be the focal point of the village, but modernity is making its presence felt in with the introduction of a new telephone, new ships, and new ideas.

Hjarta mansins is a book about love and freedom.

The book reads, “He lost two toes and a finger, but gained a wife.”

But what does it mean to love and be in love, the boy asks. And what are you supposed to choose?

The book is translated by Þóra Þóroddsdóttir and Martin Næs