Magma cover art

Magma

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Magma

By: Thora Hjörleifsdóttir, Meg Matich - translator
Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

About this listen

Twenty-year-old Lilja is in love.

He is older and beautiful, a Derrida-quoting intellectual.

He is also a serial cheater, gaslighter and narcissist.

Lilja will do anything to hold on to him.

And so she accepts his deceptions and endures his sexual desires. She rationalises his toxic behaviour and permits him to cross all her boundaries. In her desperation to be the perfect lover, she finds herself unable to break free from the toxic cycle. And then an unexpected ultimatum: an all-consuming love or the promise of a life reclaimed.

Thora Hjörleifsdóttir explores the darkest corners of relationships, exposing the undercurrents of violence that often go undetected. In an era of growing pornification, she deftly illustrates the failings of our culture to recognise symptoms of cruelty. In visceral, poetic prose, translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich, Magma depicts the unspooling of a tender-hearted young woman aching to love and be loved.

©2021 Thora Hjörleifsdóttir and Meg Matich (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited Coming of Age Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"A compulsive and propulsive debut." (Lily King)

"A luminous and poetic novel.... [Hjörleifsdóttir] has created a whole new landscape for storytelling." (John Freeman)
All stars
Most relevant
This book is incredibly powerful. It’s dark and not for the faint of heart, really short chapters about separate incidents in this dis functional, toxic and to her inescapable relationship with a man who in my opinion is sub human. Excellent read

Wow

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Searingly honest. Painful. Anyone ever involved with a Narcissist - of real NPD disorder should listen to this terrific debut novel. The story perfectly and observes the easy self- justification of loving such a man. The author writes so clearly and even the shocking parts are handled so well. It is impossible to put down. Seems so utterly authentic.
Beautifully read by Genevieve Gaunt. She captures the blind adoration of the victim of narcissism even when the red flags are popping up every page.

Every woman should read this....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A story with the gravity of a true lived in reality. There’s no artifice, equal parts candid portrayal and heart wrenching pain. Hjörleifsdóttir doesn’t allow a barrier to come between the narrator and the reader’s sense of empathy. Profoundly human. Achingly beautiful.

Gripping and poignant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.