The Creak on the Stairs Read online

  First had come the anger. How could he do this to her? How could he go without saying goodbye, without warning her? She couldn’t look his family in the eye. When his sister Lára had rung her a few weeks ago, she had hardly been able to speak to her. She couldn’t talk about him, not yet.

  But there was little of that initial anger left now. Now all she felt was grief.

  Bending down, she brushed the snow off the candle that someone had placed on the grave. It took a little while to light it but finally the cold wick caught and a small flame began to flicker in the dusk.

  She stood there for a while, thinking about their life together. About all the good times and all the bad. Letting the final shreds of her anger burn up with the candle. She didn’t leave until the cold began to penetrate her bones. Then she got back into the car and headed for Akranes and home.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This book would never have been written were it not for my husband, Gunnar, who has far greater faith in me than I do in myself. Not every husband would order his wife to give up all her ‘proper’ work to concentrate on writing instead. I’ll never understand where he gets his extraordinary equanimity, positivity and optimism. Apparently it’s true what they say – opposites attract!

  Special thanks are due to my Icelandic publishers, Bjarni Þorsteinsson, Pétur Már Ólafsson and co. at Bjartur & Veröld, for taking on an inexperienced young author and giving her a bit of a polish.

  Thanks too to Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson for giving me the opportunity to realise my dream and for introducing me to the wonderful world of crime fiction.

  I really got lucky when I signed a contract with David Headley of the DHH Literary Agency as he is so much more than just an outstanding agent.

  Many thanks to Karen Sullivan and Orenda Books. I’m incredibly grateful to be part of Team Orenda and can’t wait to get to know you all better in the near future. I would also like to thank Victoria Cribb for her faultless translation. My book has certainly been in good hands.

  Last but not least, I would like to thank my children, Óliver Dreki, Benjamín Ægir and Embla Steinunn, for forcing me to put down the computer and focus on what really matters.

  —Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in Globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland and deciding to write a novel – something she had wanted to do since she won a short-story competition at the age of fifteen. After nine months combining her writing with work as a stewardess and caring for her children, Eva finished The Creak on the Stairs. It was published in 2018, and became a bestseller in Iceland. It also went on to win the Blackbird Award, a prize set up by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson to encourage new Icelandic crime writers.

  Eva lives in Reykjavík with her husband and three children and is currently working on her next novel. Follow Eva on Instagram @evabjorg88 and Twitter @evaaegisdottir.

  ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

  Victoria Cribb lived and worked in Reykjavík for a number of years and has translated more than twenty-five books by Icelandic authors, including Arnaldur Indriðason and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. Her translation of CoDex 1962 by Sjón was long-listed for the Best Translated Book Award and the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019. In 2017 she received the Orðstír honorary translation award for services to Icelandic literature.

  COPYRIGHT

  Orenda Books

  16 Carson Road

  West Dulwich

  London SE21 8HU

  www.orendabooks.co.uk

  First published in the United Kingdom by Orenda Books, 2020

  First published in Iceland with the title Marrið í stiganum by Veröld Publishing, 2018

  Copyright © Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, 2018

  English translation copyright © Victoria Cribb, 2020

  Eva Björg Ægisdóttir has asserted her moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Paperback ISBN 978–1–913193–04–1

  Hardback ISBN 978–1–913193–23–2

  eISBN 978–1–913193–05–8