Miss Iceland by Audur Ava Olafsdottir is a poetic, atmospheric book set in Iceland in the 1960’s. It follows Hekla, a young female writer and Jon, her gay best friend who longs to work in the theater. Both are out of place in Iceland at that time.

Although the tone is often melancholic, I loved every second of this book. Olafsdottir completely captured the mood and the feeling of that particular time and place and what it would have been like for two unlikely artists to find their place in such a conservative world. A beautiful little book.