The Tower at the Edge of the World is William Heinesen's last novel
written when he was 76, and is the summation of all of his work. He is
one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Nordic author of the twentieth
century.
William Heinesen describes The Tower at the Edge of the World as a
poetic mosaic novel about earliest childhood. There is the perspective
of both the child and the old man looking back at his life as a child.
Although there is a lot of tangible detail and recognisable characters
the book has a mythic quality. The events in a small community in the
windswept Atlantic ocean being recorded by the writer in his room, his
tower at the edge of the world, have a larger than life feel. Torshavn
and his childhood are used to tell the history of the world and of
creation.