Animal Life

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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.

Reviews

'Charming, funny and deeply wise, Animal Life brought me nose to nose with life and death, and the earthy, transcendent business of pregnancy and birth. In prose spare yet rich, reminiscent for me of Tove Jansson, the quirky wisdom of this ancestral trio of midwives is both heart-warming and thought-provoking. I loved it' - Jo Browning Wroe, author of the Sunday Times bestseller A Terrible Kindness

'A strange, soothing contemplation of life and death through the eyes of one compellingly unique family. One of those small stories that manages to feel very big indeed' - Bobby Palmer, author of Isaac and the Egg

'I found Animal Life a quirky, elusive and unique book, and rather heartwarming' - Nick Bradley, author of The Cat and The City

'Olafsdottir is at her best when sharing the histories of midwives . . . Nothing much happens, but only in the way that one could say nothing much happens on any given day, the rhythms of which the author captures perfectly. The result is a rich slice of life' - Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Audur Ava Olafsdottir is a prize-winning novelist, playwright and poet. Audur Ava's novels have been translated into over 25 languages, and they include Butterflies in November, Hotel Silence and Miss Iceland, also published by Pushkin Press. Hotel Silence won the Nordic Council Literature Prize, the Icelandic Literary Prize, and was chosen Best Icelandic Novel in 2016 by the booksellers in Iceland. Miss Iceland won the Prix Medicis Etranger and the Icelandic Booksellers Prize. Audur Ava lives in Reykjavik.