Berlinaraspirnar

Skaldsøgan Berlinaraspirnar kundi eins væl itið Arvasyndin. Hetta er søgan um tríggjar brøður. Margido Neshov er gamal drongur, miðskeiðis í fimmtiárunum og biðimaður í Tróndheimi. Á fedranna ættgarði uttan fyri býin býr eldri bróð­urin Tóri saman við gomlu mammu sínari, tí forfjónaða og ómæl­andi pápanum og øllum svínunum. Í Keypmannahavn býr triði bróðirin Erlendur, sum rýmdi ungur og sprakk út úr skápinum sum samkyndur. Hann er vindeygadekoratørur og býr saman við danska blaðstjór­an­um Krumma.

Í vikuni fyri jól fær mamman heilabløðing og liggur fyri deyðanum. Teir tríggir koma saman um hana. Teir hava ikki borið eyga hvør við annan í óminni­­lig­­ar tíðir. Dóttir Tóra, Tórunn – sum pápi hennara nóg illa kennir – kemur eisini. Meðan móðirin liggur og stríðist, kemur tað fram, at røturnar, sum brøðurnir hava roynt at kvetta, eru djúpari, enn teir grunaðu. Og har koma nýggjar røtur undan kavi, sum teir als einki vistu um.

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The novel Berlin Poplars could as easily have been titled Original Sin. This is the story of three brothers. Margido Neshov is a bachelor, an undertaker in his middle forties who lives in Trondheim. His older brother Tóri lives on the family farm outside town with his old mother, his quiet and disregarded father and all the pigs. Erlendur, the third brother, lives in Copenhagen; he ran away from home in his youth and came out as gay. He is a window dresser and lives with Krumma, a newspaper editor.

During the week running up to Christmas, their mother has a stroke and is dying. The three brothers reunite to be with her. They have not seen each other for as long as they can remember. Tóri’s daughter, Tórun, who hardly knows her father, joins them. As their mother fights her last battle, the brothers realise that the roots they have tried to cut run far deeper than they imagined. And new root of which none of them knew surface.