Walking Into the Night

As butler to William Randolph Hearst at San Simeon castle, Christian Benediktsson lives quietly, almost invisibly. He completes his tasks efficiently and with aplomb, catering to the whims of the volatile Chief and overseeing the running of the hectic household. Privy to the goings-on of the celebrity guests who visit as well as to Hearst's intimate relationship with his mistress, the actress Marion Davies, he is the picture of discretion. An extremely private man, those around him know nothing of him or his life. And so it is in his thoughts and in unsent letters to his wife back in Iceland that we witness the unraveling of his former life, which began when he abandoned her and their children for an actress in New York City. Once a successful businessman, he erases his past and himself after a sudden tragic death and his financial ruin, the result of a jilted lover's vengeance. Walking into the Night is a stunning portrait of a man wrestling with guilt and secret passions.

Olaf Olafsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1962, and studied physics as a Wien Scholar at Brandeis University. He is the author of two previous novels, The Journey Homeand Absolution, which have been translated into fourteen languages. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.