A review by anetq
Stiklingen by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

5.0

I am really enjoying the equal humor and depth of Olafdóttirs novels. This is my second (I really enjoyed the Nordic Council Prize winner: Ar (scars?) as well) and there are similarities: we kick off with a person in crisis, going on the road, who ends up finding something to live for - possibly themselves.
This is an earlier work, but awesome in it's own right. Our main character has lost his mother and anchor of the family. He has also fathered a child after a one night stand in his mother's green house - a green house that has also spawned a new kind of rose in a hostile climate... So our hero goes on a quest to save the oldest and most magnificent rose garden in Europe - with seedlings of his mothers roses, when his own seedling turn up... A fun read about life, love and gardening.