The Good Lover tells the story of Karl Ástuson, a charming businessman. He was raised by an excessively indulgent and overprotective mother, who died when he was only eighteen years old. This loss has profoundly impacted Karl's life and his dealings with women. Karl's love life consists of a string of meaningless affairs. The only woman who came close to his 'perfect' mother, was his first and only love Una. At twenty years old, after dating for a couple of months, Una left him without as much as an explanation. Years later, despite the wealth and female attention he now enjoys, Una has left a void within Karl that he seems unable to fill. Impulsively and uncharacteristically, he travels back to Reykjavik, and finally wins her over. Before they have the chance to live out their happy ending, Karl's womanizing past catches up with him when an ex immortalizes him in a novel as 'the good lover'.

Steinunn Sigurðardóttir has written an intriguing, unusual and beautiful novel about the messiness of love that will stay with the reader for a long time.