Animal Life, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
“A beautiful and enchanting snapshot into the women who spend their life witnessing and enabling the very first moments of human life”
A wonderfully enchanting December read, Animal Life, written by award-winning Icelandic author Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir and translated into English by Brian FitzGibbon, explores ideas around birth, death, and human nature in the depths of an Icelandic winter.
As a storm approaches Reykjavik in the days leading up to Christmas, the reader is transported into the life of Domhildur, who comes from a long line of midwifes and has just delivered her 1922nd baby. Following the discovery of decades worth of letters and manuscripts written by her grandaunt, we learn more about Domhildur’s emotional and ideological connection with a woman who garnered a reputation for her unconventionality and somewhat unorthodox yet wise insights.
As a beautiful and enchanting snapshot into the women who spend their life witnessing and enabling the very first moments of human life, Animal Life causes readers to reflect on the many strange and beautiful truths of humanity.
