The Greenhouse, 2007 (original title: Afleggjarinn)

At 22, Arnljotur leaves the ice and lava of his native Iceland, destined for a monastery on the continent where he must restore the rose garden. He leaves with, in his pocket, a photo of his baby daughter, in his heart, the love of his father and his autistic brother and the memory of his prematurely departed mother and, in his trunk, three cuttings of rosa candida.

Author: Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, is a woman writer born in 1958 in Reykjavik, Iceland. She is also a professor of art history at the University of Iceland and director of the University of Iceland Art Museum. She has published four books to date.

My thoughts: It was in May that I bought this book, to which I was intuitively drawn by its intense pink cover. After reading the first lines, I decided to take it home, but it was not until early January that I read this gem.

“The book chooses us, not the other way round.” A writer I once met at a book fair said to me....and experience has proved to me so many times that this is true!!

The Greenhouse is a gentle and soothing book - a touch of sweetness in this cruel world! A masterpiece of Icelandic literature. I loved everything in this book: the people, the landscapes and the emotions... It is the journey of a young man in search of himself who, thanks to encounters, advice and new experiences, discovers who he is and who he can become. I loved Arnljotur for his candour, freshness and goodness. I also adored his father, an old man completely overwhelmed by the unexpected death of his wife, always worried about his son, so kind and loving. This book is a breath of fresh air, a means to disconnect from harsh reality... We need more innocent and loving people like this young man. Captivated, I have purchased another of Ólafsdóttir’s novels "Rigning í November" or “Butterflies in November” in English.