Flower in the Crannied Wall

The narrative in this book is a true account of events that the author, Jóhanna Sigrún Ingvarsdóttir, experienced as a child. The setting is a small farm in a barren valley at the foot of the glacier Drangajökull in the Westfjords of Iceland, below the Arctic Circle. The title quotes a poem by Alfred Tennyson, Flower in the Crannied Wall, which he wrote in 1863. The poem appeared in the book Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by John E. Esslemont. The residents of Lyngholt, a remote farm in the aforementioned valley of Unaðsdalur (Valley of Delight) on Snæfjallaströnd (Snowy Mountains Coast), happened to receive a copy of the first translation of the book into Icelandic. During the short time the book remained in Lyngholt, it was carefully studied. A long time later, and after a seemingly futile search, this treasured book reappeared in an unexpected way.

Jóhanna Sigrún Ingvarsdóttir was born and raised on a rural farm in the Westfjords of Iceland. As a child, she enjoyed the magnificent Icelandic nature around her, listening to the sounds of the river, the sea, and the melting snow. She lives in a small village in the Westfjords and is known in the region for her gardening and her cultivation of flowers. Jóhanna Sigrún Ingvarsdóttir er fædd og uppalin á afskekktum sveitabæ á Vestfjörðum. Sem barn var hún vön að njóta stórbrotinnar náttúrunnar í kringum sig, hlusta á nið árinnar, hafsins og kliðinn í þiðnandi snjósköflum. Hún býr í litlu þorpi á Vestfjörðum og er þekkt í héraðinu fyrir garðrækt og blómarækt.