Icelandic author Sjon – whose earlier books include "From the Mouth of a Whale" – follows protagonist Valdimar Haraldsson in this new novel. Haraldsson has come aboard a merchant ship in 1949 and while on board, he meets the second mate, a man who is actually the legendary hero Caeneus traveling in disguise. Caeneus tells the crew of his time with the Argonauts looking for the Golden Fleece. This story makes for a literary experience that Nelson compares to sitting next to a dinner companion who is telling you a long story that you only half-believe but which still entrances you. "It's kind of a retelling of Jason and the Golden Fleece and the Argonauts, but it's filtered through the narrative experience [of Valdimar]," she says.
