Growing Up Viking: Fond Memories of Iceland

Ieda Jonasdottir grew up in Iceland,in a country where Viking philosophy, trolls, hidden folk and the elusive monster worm, the Serpent of Lagarfljot, were all accepted as existing without question. It was a life of daily hardship, but also of freedom to live as children should. Amidst the eerie landscapes, erupting volcanoes, gushing geysers and swirling fog, Ieda was allowed to grow up and learn the lessons of life without outside interference.

But with a distant war, came visitors and new opportunities. A chance meeting, a proposal of marriage and a long journey by ship found Ieda landing at the Ellis Island of 1945.

Now, she retells the story of her childhood growing up in the Iceland of 1935, when summer adventures were all that mattered, through immigration to the United States and a new life that was fully lived and filled with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Growing Up Viking is a beautifully crafted memoir which looks back at Idea’s life in a simpler time and of the folklore, enchanting legends and Viking myths that shaped Iceland and helped to form her young mind.

With interesting footnoteson the effects of the war and of the Dalvik earthquake of 1934, it is a story of a woman who lived for 65 years of her life in a vastly different culture, but who always remained a Viking at heart.