Magnus, a ten-year old Norwegian boy, discovers a magic bookcase which enables him to travel in time through Scandinavian history.
At the end of the school day, as he is crossing the forest to get back home, Magnus is caught in a storm and has to take refuge in the shed of an old man that the children of the area have nicknamed « the old madman ». Far from being as fearsome as Magnus had imagined, the old madman is a good ole grandad who kindly welcomes Magnus and tells him stories « to kill time », as both are waiting for the storm to finish. The child soon discovers a beautiful bookcase whose books are endowed with magic powers : as soon as they have been opened up by their reader, they transport the latter into the stories they contain, and have him live them from the inside.
Magnus, in the company of Rognetide the troll, thus goes off to explore the life of the Vikings in the year 1000. He meets Erik the Red, whom he follows in his different trips across the world. Aboard a longship, he even discovers America !
A second story have the two companions reach the Pantheon of Scandinavian gods, and witness the Ragnarok, a fierce confrontation between gods.
Eventually, Magnus is sent to Lapland, where, with the help of a shaman, he saves the life of a little girl, though putting his own at jeopardy.
Magnus freely takes advantage of such fantastic travelling, until he finds out there is a price to pay : the bookcase only exists if a keeper can look after it, and its keeper can only be set free of such task if a replacement has been found. The old madman then disappears, only to leave Magnus take up his position.
Author: Laurent Peyronnet has published novels, tales and short-stories. Being fond of travelling, he discovered and fell in love with Norway in 1997, becoming a guide for tourists there. For 15 years, he used to accompany French-speaking travellers eager to get more familiar with the land of aurora borealis.
His stories take place at the very heart of the mountains and the fjords, in the realm of Vikings and trolls. His novel Magnus, Une Histoire Pour Tuer Le Temps (Magnus, A Story To Kill Time) has been both the accomplishment and the meeting point of his passions for writing and the Country of the Midnight Sun.
Illustrator: Godo has always seen the blank page as a world of infinite possibilities, in which anything and everything may appear. His very first drawings saw him set up the universe of goblins, trolls and dragons that still...
