Heia - Steinunn Sigurardttir

Steinunn Sigurardttir is one of Iceland's most highly acclaimed novelists and poets. Her first book The Thief of Time was an international bestseller and was made into a film starring Emmanuelle Beart. Three of her other novels - Place of the Heart, Yo-Yo and The Good Lover - have also been translated into English.

Heida is a force of nature . . . she has about her an honesty that is never less than enchanting
Sunday Times

A fierce account of what it means to hold the countryside in trust . . . [Heida is an] utterly charming personality . . . this is an inspiring story of resistance to a corporate Goliath, and [Heida] - with her forthright tone and irrepressible humour - makes a delightful David
Mail on Sunday

I had the feeling while reading it that Heida was in MY kitchen, idly chatting to ME and that I was getting to know her really well, as a close friend . . . It was a privilege to be 'talked to' as a friend and allowed to share a fine farmer's life for a few hours
Rosamund Young, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF COWS

A rare portrait of a woman possessed of frontier courage and a sense of humour and humility . . . revelatory and inspiring
The Herald

Heida comes across as a highly impressive person . . . Iceland is lucky to have this formidable guardian angel protecting its traditions and landscape
Daily Mail

Sharp and funny . . . this is an engrossing quick dispatch from an unusual life
The Riverside Way (The Riverside Bookshop blog)

What a story . . . a real-life Bathsheba from Far From the Madding Crowd, but undistracted by the endless queue of male suitors . . . this frank, unusual book details a year in her life
Muddy Stilettos

An engaging memoir . . . a beautifully written ode
Countryman

A study in courage and determination
TLS

It is her deep connectedness to others - whether her family, her farmer neighbours, her dog, or the land itself - which drives the emotional heart of the book
Church Times