Animal Life, Auur Ava Olafsdottir
Animal Life, Auur Ava Olafsdottir
List: $17.99 | Sale: $12.59
Club: $8.99

Animal Life

Author: Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

Narrator: Ann Richardson

Unabridged: 4 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/06/2022

Synopsis

In the days leading up to Christmas, Dómhildur 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, Dómhildur 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 neighbor, Dómhildur escapes into her grandaunt’s archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death, and human nature. With her singular warmth and humor, Ólafsdóttir gives us a beguiling novel that comes direct from the depths of an Icelandic winter, full of hope for spring.

About Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic prize-winning author of six novels, including The Greenhouse and Butterflies in November, a collection of poetry, and four plays. Her novel Hotel Silence won the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize, and Miss Iceland won the Prix Médicis étranger and the Icelandic Bookseller’s Prize and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Her novels have been translated into over thirty languages. She lives in Reykjavik.

About Ann Richardson

Ann Richardson was raised in the Midwest, where she was active in drama and singing. Her varied work experience has lent itself well to narration, as she's no stranger to the terminology used in wildlife management, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, education, and the automotive industry. A devoted volunteer for Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic), she has narrated numerous audiobooks in a wide variety of genres.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Meike on March 31, 2023

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir is currently swiping up awards for Eden (where is the translation???), but the predecessor of her latest Icelandic bestseller is also pretty captivating: The hazy text feels like it's set in a dreamscape, as we accompany our narrator Dýja, a woman who follows in the footsteps o......more

Goodreads review by Come on November 25, 2021

In islandese la parola "ostetrica" si traduce “ljósmóðir". Questa parola nel 2013 è stata votata come parola più bella della lingua islandese. “Nella motivazione della commissione giudicante si dice che il vocabolo riunisce due fra le parole piú belle: madre e luce. Ljósmóðir, o madre della luce, in......more

Goodreads review by Viera on April 15, 2023

V roku 2013 vyberali Islanďania najkrajšie islandské slovo. Nakoniec vybrali podstatné meno s deviatimi hláskami, ktoré označuje zdravotníckeho pracovníka, čo je ale aj výraz pre pôrodnú asistentku. Takto začína kniha, ktorú som si na čítanie vybrala v súvislosti s témou nášho nadchádzajúceho knižné......more

Goodreads review by Lucia on February 19, 2024

3,5 En islandés, la palabra “partera” está considerada la más bella del idioma, debió a que puede traducirse como “madre de la luz”. La protagonista de la novela es lo que hoy llamamos una matrona, Dyja vive en un apartamento que heredo de su tía, también matrona. En esta casa va encontrando notas de......more

Goodreads review by Ruben on January 01, 2023

A meditative little book set in Iceland and told from the perspective of a midwife. It’s about life and death and nature and humans and animals. There is little or no plot, but rather little vignettes or musings that I enjoyed listening too well enough, but that, I fear, will ultimately prove to be......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List