It is Christmas Eve, and the couple at Kölduhamrar are preparing for Christmas. Their first child is due just after New Year, but snow is piling up, and the road out of the fjord has still not been cleared. When the cow on the farm goes into labour, a door flies open that cannot be shut.

Quickening is Dagur Hjartarson’s fifth novel. He was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize for Ljósagang (2022) and received unanimous praise for Sporðdrekar (2024).

***** “Quickening is a bittersweet and captivating story about human nature and the love that remains unspoken.”
Ragna Gestsdóttir / DV

“Extraordinarily beautifully written … very well done.”
Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir / Kiljan

“An excellent book.”
Ingibjörg Iða Auðundardóttir / Kiljan

“There is a stillness and composure about this book, and it is very beautifully written.”
Egill Helgason / Kiljan

“The beauty of life and death may be what matters most in this existence, and this novella succeeds admirably in conveying that, taking on the big questions in relatively few but deeply meaningful pages.”
Gauti Kristmannsson / Víðsjá

**** “Quickening grips the reader with stillness and lyrical intimacy. It is about a married couple and a cow, life and death, light and darkness, but above all about smallness becoming immense.”
Hólmfríður María Bjarnadóttir / Heimildin

**** “The novel Quickening is a stunningly beautiful work with intriguing connections to Icelandic and international literary history.”
Kristján Jóhann Jónsson / MBL