Happy New Year! It’s our first annual New Year’s Special and we hope you enjoy it. If you will permit us, we start with a bit of self-indulgence as we look back at the first year of the podcast, including us ranking our favorite series we’re covered on the show. If you will not permit us, you can jump to 1:29:30 where we start our discussion of Halldór Laxness’s Independent People. We start with a fairly lengthy section of Niamh providing historical context around the novel before getting into our conversation around the themes of the novel. We then finish with some emails from fans! You can check out our notes from Independent People here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zIDcah4_tid-1GnNNPsle08DzYMovtAixqTiLWQclGY You can write into future Question Buckets at ghostdiverspod@gmail.com and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter! The Show: @ghostdiverspod Niamh: @FoxmomNia Connor: @rabbleais Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud Export Audio Network: exportaud.io Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells Works Cited in this Discussion A History of Icelandic Literature edited by Daisy Neijmann “Halldór Laxness and the CIA” by Chat Lemoine "Do not praise that piece of shit Bjartur: Independent People, reviewed" by Sam Knight Content Warnings for this Discussion Slavery / indentured servitude Violence, death, and child death Sexism Cycles of abuse Brief mention of sexual abuse and rape Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co