Hotel Silence

Translated from the Icelandic by Brian FitzGibbon

2020 Longlist

On the cusp of turning fifty and divorced, Jónas Ebeneser who has recently discovered he is not the biological father of his daughter, Gudrun Waterlily, has sunk into an existential crisis, losing all will to live. As he visits his senile mother in a nursing home, he secretly muses on how, when, and where to put himself out of his misery.

To prevent his only daughter from discovering his body, Jónas decides it’s best to die abroad. He flies to an unnamed country where the fumes of war still hover in the air. He books a room at the sparsely occupied Hotel Silence, in a small town riddled with landmines and the aftershocks of violence, and there he comes to understand the depths of other people’s scars while beginning to see his wounds in a new light.

About the Author

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic award-winning novelist, playwright and a poet. She also writes the lyrics for the Icelandic pop band Milkywhale. Auður Ava’s novels have been translated into over 25 languages. Her new novel, Hotel Silence, won the Icelandic Literary Prize 2016 and was chosen Best Icelandic Novel in 2016 by booksellers in Iceland.

Librarian’s Comments

A quiet but utterly engaging tale, told in Ólafsdóttir’s signature spare and brilliantly charming prose. Reykjavík City Library, Iceland