The Greenhouse

For Lobbi, the tragic passing of his mother proves to be a profound catalyst. Their shared love of tending rare roses in her greenhouse inspires him to leave his studies behind and travel to a remote village monastery to restore its once fabulous gardens. While transforming the garden under the watchful eye of a cinephile monk, he is surprised by a visit from Anna, a friend of a friend with whom he shared a fateful moment in his mother’s greenhouse, and the daughter they together conceived that night. In caring for both the garden and the little girl, Lobbi slowly begins to assume the varied and complex roles of a man: fatherhood with a deep relationship with his child, cooking, nurturing, and remaining also a son, brother, lover, and...a gardener. A story about the heartfelt search for beauty in life, The Greenhouse is a touching reminder of our ability to turn the small things in everyday life into the extraordinary. Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir was born in Iceland in 1958, studied art history in Paris, & has lectured in history of art at the University of Iceland. She is the author of six novels, a collection of poetry & four plays that have been performed at the National Theatre in Iceland & at the Reykjavik City Theatre. She also writes the lyrics for the Icelandic performance pop band Milkywhale. Her novels have been translated into over 25 languages & among them are The Greenhouse & Butterflies in November. Her novel The Greenhouse was translated into twenty-two languages. She currently lives & works in Reykjavik. Young Lobbi was preparing to leave his childhood home, his autistic brother, his octogenarian father, and the familiar landscape of mossy lava fields for an unknown future. Soon before his departure, he received an awful phone call: his mother was in a car accident. She used her dying words to offer calm advice to her son, urging him to continue their shared work in the greenhouse tending to the rare Rosa candida. Prior to his mother’s death, in that very same greenhouse, Lobbi made love to Anna, a friend of a friend, and just as he readies his departure he learns that in their brief night together they conceived a child. He is still reeling from this chain of events when he arrives at his new job, reinstating the rare eight-petaled rose in the majestic forgotten garden of an ancient European monastery. In focusing his energy cultivating the rarest rose, he also learns to cultivate love, with the help of a film buff monk and his newborn daughter, Flora Sol. Lobbi, a young man just leaving for a new job, experiences a chain of life changing events including the death of his mother and unexpected fatherhood for himself, but as he focuses on the cultivation of a rare eight-petaled rose he learns how to adjust to his new life and to cultivate love as well.