On the day Iceland’s banking system collapses in 2008, trash collector Gómur Barðdal stumbles upon a severed human nose in a garbage bin outside a luxury home in central Reykjavík. Soon after, his cousin, Geir Norðann, a struggling poet, is employed as a poetry tutor for that same household.

As Icelandic society unravels, the two cousins—along with Zipo, the drive-through girl, Kata, the car dealer, and Didda, the trash lady and former prison guard of the year—set out to solve the mystery of the nose. Who does it belong to, and how did it end up in the trash? Their search pulls them into a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of Icelandic society.

Important Trash is a hilarious and gripping tale of love, intrigue, and societal collapse, bursting with narrative energy and wit.

The nominees for this year’s Icelandic Storytel Awards have been announced. The Storytel Awards have been bestowed to highlight the best audio books of the year. The awards are granted within six categories: Suspense, Fiction, Non-fiction, Feelgood, YA, and Children’s books.

Among the nominees for suspense are Johan Theorin’s Weathered Bones and Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s I See You.

We’re Just Trying to Have Fun by Hálldor Armand Asgeirsson is featured within the non-fiction category.

Simona Ahrnstedt’s High Risk is nominated in the feelgood category, whilst Martin Widmark’s The Saffron Mystery is in the running for the children’s books award.

Readers will be able to vote for their favorite works, after which a jury will pick a winner among the three candidates with the most votes in each category.

A young aspiring author named Hanna visits the picturesque Icelandic town of Borgarnes where she comes across Skorri, the brother of her high school crush Tinna working as a salesman at the local farmer’s market. Suddenly pulled into her past, Hanna draws close to Skorri, as he tells her the story of a dark secret shared by the two siblings. Tinna has now moved to Berlin and disappeared without a trace, carrying the truth with her. Skorri is set on finding his sister in the hopes of keeping his secret in the dark but quickly discovers the truth is about to catch up to him, forcing him to make some choices that will change his life forever.

Brother is about the depth and violence of love, the struggle with destiny beyond our control, about the power of the narrator and how much we are willing to sacrifice for the truth.