On Love, Dragons and Dying (2015)

‘Still, in a way we are lucky,’ Björgvin says all of a sudden. ‘Most folk who get this news are compelled to make huge changes in their lifestyle. Their world is turned upside-down and they have the additional challenge of figuring out how to spend the time they have left. We don’t have to do that. We are already in that place, living the life we have always wanted.

Hard to admit but it is true. We have indeed been following our hearts. One after another our dreams have been fulfilled. Still, I find our situation highly unfair and I say so. ‘Unfair?’ His dark eyebrows are raised at me. ‘Would it be fairer if someone else had this brain tumour?’

In On Love, Dragons and Dying, Davidsdottir describes her and Her Beloved‘s journey with the disease they knew would kill him, and her first year as a widow. The book provides an insight both into the world of cancer and the deep grief of one who has loved and lost. But it is in equal measure an ode to love, an incitement to live mindfully and accept that death is a natural part of life.

• Nominated for the Icelandic Women‘s Literature Prize