Animal life
(Book)

Animal Life was first published as Dayralaif by Benedikt in Iceland in 2020.

"From winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize, Auður Ava aOlafsdaottir, comes a dazzling novel about a family of midwives set in the run-up to Christmas in Iceland. In the days leading up to Christmas, Daomhildur 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 Reykjavaik, Daomhildur 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, Daomhildur escapes into her grandaunt's archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death, and human nature. With her singular warmth and humor, in Animal Life aOlafsdaottir gives us abeguiling novel that comes direct from the depths of an Icelandic winter, full of hope for spring"--,Provided by publisher.