I shouldn't have been surprised when my conversation with Eliza Reid, the first lady of Iceland, ran the gamut from her thoughts on government-subsidized child care to the indisputable fact that Ryan Reynolds is indeed Canadian.
Reid artfully weaves incisive, relatable observations into her impressive new book on gender equality, "Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World." (Sprakkar is an old Icelandic word for outstanding women and Reid interviews plenty of them.) It's an accessible, highly personal read, sprinkled with Reid's smarts and self-deprecating wit.
The 46-year-old journalist and entrepreneur, who grew up on a hobby farm in Canada, never imagined that one day she would be married to a head of state. While studying at Oxford University, Reid was smitten with a fellow graduate student from Iceland. Before long, she proposed to him — and years later, in 2016, the historian she married, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, was elected president.
