A simple, beautiful, gripping and moving tale of an Icelandic shepherd, making his twenty-seventh annual journey into the bleak and stormy wastes of the mountains to rescue the sheep that have been missed in the yearly ingathering. With his two comrades, Leo, the dog, and Gnarly, the wether, he performs feats of endurance, patience and persistence that are nobly heroic. Yet he does it all without heroics just as a matter-of-course duty to the dumb animals and to his neighbors.

Like this peasant hero, the reader feels a kinship with the mighty, white landscape, the swirling snows under the brief sun and the icy moon, the raging hurricanes that pile the snow into strange mountains, and the clouds that make a farther range on the horizon. He knows the tender bond, half humorous, half dependent, which exists between Benedikt and his animals, the steady responsibility the man feels, not only for his own animals but for others'. He labors with the shepherd over the long wastes, blinded with snow, and knows, with him, the exhausted desire to stop in the wallow under the snow, sheltered briefly from the hurricane, and sleep forever. He spurs himself, like Benedikt, to fight to the last, and comes out of the ordeal to the peace and safety of the village until the next year shall bring the duty back.

The character of the simple hero is magnificent rejoicing in what he has, serene in his faith, accepting the responsibilities that come to him even when they are hazardous impositions, providing first for the well-being of his helpless companions, facing danger and denying it entrance to his mind, undiscouraged, assured and calm. 

The journey begins on Advent Sunday, a day of beginning and expectation. With his thoughts of his work, there runs through Benedikt's mind the thoughts of the church season, and there is the faint suggestion of a parallel between his journey and that of the great Good Shepherd, Christ.

Gunnar Gunnarsson's writing is known to a wide audience. The books of this Icelandic author have been translated into many languages. They have a universal and a timeless appeal. Ships in the Sky and The Night and the Dream, which tell the story of his own boyhood and youth, have touched the hearts of American readers. 

Appearing when the world is war-weary, weary of mad greed and savage aggression, The Good Shepherd brings a Christmas message peculiarly inspiring.

From the dust jacket