Even though historical fiction isn't my go-to genre, I enjoyed reading this novel about a family of immigrants who come to Canada from Iceland. The realistic portrayal of all the hardships they went through was interesting to me, as I don't know much about either country or its history. I think any historical fiction/family saga reader would love this novel.

Be Still the Water is an excellent book. Very well written and enjoyable. I love historical fiction. It is one of my favorite style of books. I was not at all familiar with the Icelandic people or their customs. It is a rich history and spans a long time period. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is intelligently written and researched.

The story begins present day, an old lady in palliative care only a few days before death will takeover. Asta believes in her ability to astral travel back to the past where she will be able to discover what happened to her younger sister Freyja, the one she was closest to and the one with the inherited beauty. Asta’s difficulty is that with her present failing life, the past and present are blurring and for which the author reveals to the reader only at the end, although the clues are there beforehand.
1906 a time of migration by Icelanders to Canada, a country with so much more to offer than Iceland. Asta along with her parents, grandmother and siblings have moved to Eikheimar, (oak..home, home amongst the oak tree). The family is a large one and so it is necessary that they become fully self sufficient. Their early beginnings are assisted by other Icelanders who are already established. Land has been allocated to the family but as fate would have it, the family's past, namely that surrounding the father has followed them to the new land where a long-time adversary has property adjoining theirs. As so often happens old attitudes don't disappear with migration, rather they can become more instilled into a mindset. The father Pabbi is determined not to let the past interfere with his new life, however his neighbour remains a thorn in his side and creates problems for them. Asta a middle child is reserved and compliant, however with the birth of another daughter and with the family strapped for money to pay the midwife her life changes and she becomes an indentured domestic for the midwife, Bergthora as payment. Asta’s life with the wealthy family is actually more fortunate as more opportunities become available to her.
The author has created a beautiful story tied together with all of life's elements and with the main character of Asta as her life comes to an end travels back through her journey.

This is a saga (in more ways than one, I found when I googled the exact meaning). It traces a family who migrate to Canada in search of a brighter future from Iceland. This is the early 1900s and there are mass migrations, most of them welcome. They are almost the start of civilizations in many places. The story focuses on one family, and one individual in particular within that family. We watch Asta looking back at her life trying to make sense of a couple of things she feels that are left unfinished. Hindsight provides her with more clarity and understanding of all the things that she has been through in her life. Some questions continue to nag her, we hunt for answers along with her. I put the book down initially because I was a little confused by the level of detail, but when I started it again, once I got into the groove, it was a fascinating read. I found it interesting to see the dynamics of groups of people who migrated at the same time to the same place from the same place! How they 'assimilated' into the local community or created a whole new world. 

I usually have just one requirement to completely enjoy a tale, it should all be tied up satisfactorily with a big bow on top. This is the only reason I do not give this story a full five stars.The story sticks to a very realistic pattern, and as with life there are no guarantees for everyone to be happy. That said, I have always enjoyed stories of people and their families weathering insurmountable odds and this is one special story with very graphic minute details which made me feel like I have an actual understanding of how life might have been for those pioneering families. It is a big book, but it is totally worth the effort.

Be Still the Water is a masterfully told epic tale that spans multiple generations that keeps you transfixed from beginning to end.

It isn't often that I read books that span a century - I like my stories to be quick and timely - however, Emilson's writing is at once captivating and mesmerizing and leaves you wanting more. The Nordic setting is enthralling and the characters are unforgettable.

I'm always on the search for new authors from this region and Emilson is definitely one to watch!

Thank you to #Netgalley and Kobo Books for this beautiful read.

5 star Thanks to NetGalley and Perpetual Books for allowing me to read and review this book. Published July 19, 2016.

Sometimes the right book comes along at the right time. The book may not be an award winner, nothing really over the top, but it fits your mood and has a story you want to follow. That is what this slow burning novel did and I enjoyed it immensely.

This is an Icelandic community of people that migrated to Canada in the early 1900's. It revolves around the life and family of Asta. Each chapter starts with Asta as an old woman situated in a nursing home, then morphs back in time to when she was young. In this way we are not only meeting Asta and following her life, but we also see and understand what Asta felt and experienced through her own memories.

Loneliness, family, responsibility, loss, regret, and love all shine through in this novel. The things you hope will happen, often don't, as is so natural to life. There are a number of characters that you come to love and even wish you could met and be a part of their life. This in itself attests to the wonderful writing of the author. And luckily, there will eventually be a follow up book. Not a series per se, but another book that will also highlight some of the characters from this book, which I am sure it will be like meeting old friends. .

While I might take issue with the adjective “smouldering” (please note, I’ve spelt it correctly!) that is used in the Net Galley description of this book I certainly wouldn’t complain about the rest of this description. I found this an interesting story, with characters that I both believed in, and engaged with. It covered both a period of history, and an area of the world, about which I knew nothing – I didn’t even know that Icelandic people settled in Canada!

The main protagonist, Asta, was a likeable character, and her struggles, together with those of her family, were well recounted. The story starts at the very end of her life, as she is preparing to die, and she wants to know what happened to her sister, who disappeared. In order to do this she “travels” back in time, and retells the story of her life. It is a life full of tragedy, secrets, hardship, but also the joy of family and community. As the telling unfolds we discover more about Asta and her history.

I did find it a little over-long, but, having said that, there was no extraneous episodes, no unnecessary descriptions. The writing was good, and (thank heavens) well-edited. I enjoyed this author’s style. I’d certainly recommend this to lovers of historical fiction, giving it four stars

This book is one of the best I have ever read! It is a beautiful historical fiction about immigrants from Iceland who settle in the Lake Manitoba area of Canada to start a new life.

The main character, Asta slips into semiconscious while on her deathbed and during this state looks back on her life. She relates a story of love, tragedy, hardships and accomplishments. Some of the incidents Asta relates are accurate based on real events. The author most certainly did thorough research. The characters are so believable that the story stays with you long after you finish it. I eagerly look forward to more books from this author.

What a gem of book!!! I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is not a fast read, I read some before bed, during the day and then my Kindle read it to me via Bluetooth. I found it is a book that needs to be physically read, continually, I would go back and re-read what I had listened to, just so I didn’t miss anything.
I loved the premise of a woman “Asta” nearing the end her life, having the ability to dream and “flyover” her past so she could see and recall her memories. My mother recently passed in a span of 9 days, and I could see her sometimes sleeping and smiling, this book really made me wonder if she could have been dreaming or passing over her life and memories. What an awesome thought.
I loved Asta, and especially Amma, “Freda”, the grandmother. I did have to jot down the names and who some of the characters were, there are a lot of Icelandic names, and they are referenced sometimes by other nicknames. After I did that, it was easier to put them into perspective.
This is a wonderful saga spanning many years, covering the lives of the family members and the town they settled in. We cover death, birth, floods, fire, schooling, love lost, love found, sewing mittens, nursing, ice fishing, oh, so many things. I highly recommend if you enjoy a well told story of a family leaving their homeland to immigrate to Canada and start all over to build a life. This is one that will stay in my thoughts for quite a while.
I am so glad I was allowed the opportunity to receive this book from Kobo Writing Life through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets 5*****’s.

I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Asta embarks on a quest to bring her sister home. She tells the family’s story some seventy years later.

This is truly 'slow burning' story, almost too slow in some sections. But, it is a well told story of an immigrant family in the early 1900's. Well worth the time to read.

3.25 ☆

A beautifully written drama about a family of Icelandic immigrants, Be Still the Water brought something new to the genre of historical fiction. There was a unique juxtaposition of an unreliable narrator, being that she's an old, ailing woman who seems to have a to-be-explained memory problem, with her ability to mentally transport back in time and see everything exactly as it transpired. Good or bad, the characters all feel genuine, and the setting feels very realistic and true to life as an immigrant back in the early 1900s. As she relives the past to find out what happened to her sister Freyja, we watch the family goes through trials and secrets unveiled, as the central character experiences trauma and falls in and out of love, and as the whole community strives for a better future for their children.

Asta is dying. As she looks back and remembers all the events of her long life, we learn about the joys and sadness, the love and the losses, the tragedies and the triumphs of her family, who emigrated to Canada from Iceland in the early 1900s. A family saga, with much authentic historical detail giving an evocative picture of the time and place, I never really managed however to get involved in the lives of the characters. There was too much drama in one family to be convincing, and the storyline sometimes descended into cliché and stereotype. Enjoyable enough, but nothing special

Very in-depth descriptions of hardships of life as Icelandic immigrants. This one took a little longer to read due to the vast number of characters and unfamiliar names and places. If you enjoy historical novels then this book is for you!

This story follows the life of Asta and her Icelandic immigrant family in a small community in Canada. It describes her in the last days of her life searching her memories to find a clue into her little sister's disappearance when they were teenagers.
I like how well the characters are described in this story. The story was well developed and a good pace between the present and past.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of the book.

This is by far one of the best books I've ever read and definitely the best one I've read so far this year. I was interested in reading this because it follows the story of Icelandic refugees settling in Canada and starting a new life. The story is heart wrenching and beautiful and I could not stop myself from wanting more. This is historical fiction done right!

The book mainly follows the story of Asta, the middle child in her family, who is often overshadowed by her boisterous older siblings or her younger, charming sister Freyja. Through her eyes, we experience the hardships and triumphs of the Icelandic community based around Lake Manitoba. The story is recited two-fold, in the past following Asta and her friends and in the present narrated by a dying Asta as she looks back on her life to figure out what went wrong just before the one fundamental event that changed their lives forever; the disappearance of her sister Freyja.

Some of the instances in this story are based off real events faced by the early settlers of the area. It is a recount of astounding love and loss. I believe it stays true to the roots of the community it is based on as the story is steeped in the importance of folklore and nature to the people, thus preserving the essence of their culture. It also shows the hardworking nature and perseverance that we see in refugees around the world as they protect and try to build their families up in foreign lands while respecting the customs of their aides.

The writing of this book is very well done and the elements are clearly well-researched. The characters are both relatable and frustratingly real and their stories leave you reeling and make you feel as if you are a part of their world. Commonly occurring themes are family, love, loss, jealousy, character growth. Trigger warning for the following: death, rape, suicide, chronic illnesses.

I would recommend this book to everyone! So glad that the author has expressed interest in writing more regarding the stories of the people in this book.

Rating: 5/5

A family saga involving three generations, also a rare book about Icelandic immigrants to Canada at a time when immigration was not the hotly debated topic it is now.

Settling down into a fishing and farming life, these hardworking, industrious Icelanders knew their subject and were determined to make a fresh start and do it well. That they succeeded was due to their work ethic and very strong moral values along with strong family ties which never lessened even under immense strain.

Woven into the history of the period was also the story of youngsters who came to Canada as infants and who grew to adulthood and finally old age, making a great success of their lives both personally and professionally.

It was a quiet book if that is an adequate description. It was serene despite the bloodshed, despite the war intervening and despite intermittent loss of life. I enjoyed the characterization as well. Very descriptive of the bleak and icy conditions of where they settled, this shows an outsider of what life was like at the time in outer Canada.

A story of family, love and secrets. A great read. A lengthy book, so it is very descriptive. A historical story told in current times. This book caught my eye with the cover, so yes I got this ohba whim. I liked the historical part of the book. I liked the mystery part of the book as well.

The main characters in this book are so well developed that I felt like I was part of the story and they were my neighbors. I missed them when I had to stop reading and return to my regular life. I enjoyed learning about Icelandic culture and reading the quotes at the beginning of each chapter which subtly foreshadowed the chapter ahead. It's fun to go back and reread the quotes after you finish each chapter. In a nutshell the book is a saga that addresses some serious topics but felt so very different than other sagas due to its setting and heritage of the characters. This book, as has become the standard for some many books, is split into two time frames as the story is told by one of the characters as she reflects back on her life. For the vast majority of the read I felt the current story was much weaker than the chapters detailing her earlier life and that it wasn't necessary - that it would have been an even stronger book without the current story. However, there is a twist at the end that made it worthwhile. I look forward to reading other books from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely historical fiction book about Icelandic immigrants who resettle in Manitoba Canada during the early 1900s. Asta is the main character and at the beginning of most of the chapters she is briefly in the present time and is coherent and communicating with her loved ones. What really interested me was when she would slip from the present and enter a semiconscious or dream state of mind. It was while Asta was dreaming that she would vividly reminisce about her life and the reader is transported with her as she experiences her life story. There is a terrible secret that she kept from her family as a young girl. Asta also explores her family’s struggles to survive in this new home along with the deep and lasting friendships made with neighboring friends. She spent a good part of her life as a young women trying to find her younger sister, Freyja, who mysteriously disappeared one day, leaving her family forever changed and devastated. Of course there is also the neighbor from Hell who has his own secret and agenda to make life miserable for all.
I really enjoyed this well written story and the anticipation of learning about the secrets and mysteries that were part of Asta’s life. Her memory recalls and her present day acceptance of her final days was emotional and quite moving for me.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley and this is my unbiased review.

Thank you Net Galley for the free review.

Interesting family story about Icelanders who are settling around Lake Manitoba in Canada. I like the unfamiliar language and the food that is mentioned, like Vinarterta. The story is told from the viewpoint of Asta now an old woman in a retirement home and her " time travel" back to her younger days when she was growing up and when her sister disappeared.