12 floors. My incredible home at the end of the world

Caus Island for everyone aged 10 and over and a thought experiment about life with scarce resources

By Arndís Thórarinsdóttir and Hulda Sigrún Bjarnadóttir
Translated from Icelandic by Gisa Marehn

336 pages. Hardcover. 21 cm.
Printed on recycled, environmentally friendly paper, certified with the Blue Angel eco-label. Suitable for ages 10 and up.

What if your entire life took place in a twelve-story skyscraper? A wonderfully crazy story that will make you laugh and make you reflect on your own actions.

Dagny was actually looking forward to the vacation trip with her family. Especially to finally meeting her grandmother, who lives on a small, weather-swept island. But when Dagny arrives there, it feels like a trip to the end of the world! What's more, Grandma doesn't seem at all happy about the visit. In fact, the whole island is strange.

All 197 residents live together in a single twelve-story high-rise, and everything Dagny always took for granted is in short supply here. Shopping, going to the movies, a private room: none of it! Dagny even has to generate her own power for her smartphone on an exercise bike. While she's trying to get used to her new home, inexplicable and threatening things suddenly start happening on the island. This puts the cohesion of the high-rise community to the test!

Can Dagny find out who is behind the crimes before suspicion falls on her own family?

With plenty of humor and lively, vivid language, the Icelandic author duo shows how solidarity, compassion, and respect can enrich very different lifestyles. An encouraging book for anyone ages 10 and up who is thinking about their place in the world.

"I've rarely enjoyed a children's novel so much... don't miss this original, quirky, and entertaining book!"
(Katja Brandis, author of Woodwalkers)

Awarded the Icelandic Literary Award 2020.

Arndís Thórarinsdóttir and Hulda Sigrún Bjarnadóttir live with their families in Reykjavík. Hulda has published five children's novels and Arndís eight. "12 Floors" is their first book together.

Gisa Marehn , a Berlin native and northerner, studied Scandinavian studies and Icelandic, cultural studies, and geography in Berlin and Reykjavík. She has worked in Iceland for five years and has been translating travel stories, crime novels, children's literature, and more from Icelandic since 2009. As a freelance editor, she has also edited over fifty novels, some of which are set internationally.

Here you can find more children's and young adult books and more about Iceland .