Animal Life

Domhildur comes from a long line of midwives - she even lives in her grandaunts apartment. As a terrible storm races towards her, she discovers letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt's clutter. She escapes into this archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death and human nature. For even in the depths of an Icelandic winter, new life will find a way.

In the days leading up to Christmas, Domhildur delivers her 1,922nd baby. Beginnings and endings are her family trade; she comes from a long line of midwives on her mother's side and a long line of undertakers on her father's. She even lives in the apartment that she inherited from her grandaunt, a midwife with a unique reputation for her unconventional methods. As a terrible storm races towards Reykjavik, Domhildur discovers decades worth of letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt's clutter. Fielding calls from her anxious meteorologist sister and visits from her curious new neighbour, Domhildur escapes into her grandaunt's archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death and human nature. For even in the depths of an Icelandic winter, new life will find a way.

Autorentext
AUÐUR AVA ÓLAFSDÓTTIR is a prize-winning novelist, playwright and poet. Her novels have been translated into 33 languages, and have won the Nordic Council Literature Prize, the Icelandic Literary Prize, the Prix Médicis Étranger and the Icelandic Bookseller's Prize. She lives in Reykjavík. BRIAN FITZGIBBON translates from Italian, French and Icelandic. Recent translations include Woman at 1000 Degrees by Hallgrímur Helgason as well as Hotel Silence and Miss Iceland by Auður Ava
Ólafsdóttir.