Destinations/Iceland/Read/The Greenhouse
BOOK

The Greenhouse.

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir · Fiction · 2007

The untimely demise of his mother becomes a significant turning point for Lobbi. It is their mutual passion for cultivating exotic roses in her greenhouse that spurs him to abandon his academic pursuits and embark on a journey to a secluded monastic village. His mission: to rejuvenate its once magnificent gardens. As Lobbi works on reviving the garden under the observant gaze of a movie-loving monk, his life takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of Anna, an acquaintance from a pivotal encounter in his mother’s greenhouse, along with the child born from that encounter. Embracing the responsibilities of tending to the garden and his young daughter, Lobbi gradually adapts to the multifaceted identity of a father—immersing himself in the acts of parenting, culinary arts, and nurturing, while continuing to be a son, brother, paramour, and still, a gardener at heart. "The Greenhouse" unfolds as an emotive quest for the essence of beauty in existence, serving as an eloquent testament to our capacity to transform the mundane into the sublime in our daily lives.