Author: Hannah Kent
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Star Rating: ★★★★
In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnusdottir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of her lover. Agnes is sent to wait out her final months on the farm of district officer Jon Jonsson, his wife and their two daughters. Horrified to have a convicted murderer in their midst, the family avoid contact with Agnes. Only Toti, the young assistant priest appointed Agnes’s spiritual guardian, is compelled to try to understand her. As the year progresses and the hardships of rural life force the household to work side by side, Agnes’s story begins to emerge and with it the family’s terrible realisation that all is not as they had assumed.
Seeking to expand my reading horizons, I stepped slightly outside of my usual genre and comfort zone for this book. I wasn’t disappointed. Kent’s prose is so compelling, it’s impossible not to be completely immersed in Agnes’ desperately haunting story and retelling of her past. I found myself, just like the other characters, falling for her charm and good-nature: a kind person, who found herself amidst awful circumstances and let down by the people closest to her.
This is Icelandic historical fiction, blended with crime and a torrid love story, and ultimately, a decision which pulls on your moral heart strings. A very impressive debut from Hannah Kent.