Inspired by a true story, Burial Rites follows the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.
Hannah Kent’s first novel, Burial Rites, has been translated into over thirty languages and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize), the Guardian First Book Award and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In Australia it won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, amongst others. Her second novel, The Good People, was also translated into many languages and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.
'A story of swirling sagas, poetry, bitterness, claustrophobia . .
. through the long countdown towards Agnes's fate, it is Kent's
heart-racing imagery that lingers . . . even the bleakness of
Agnes's end, its gut-churning fear, holds an exhilaration that
borders on the sublime.' Sunday Telegraph
‘A remarkable achievement . . . Burial Rites will stand comparison
with Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace and Peter Carey’s True History
of the Kelly Gang.’
*Sunday Times*
One of the most gripping, intriguing and unique books I’ve read
this year . . . A novel that bristles with beautiful description,
that lays bare the harshness of women’s lives of the period and
considers the nature of justice
*Kate Mosse*
'So gripping I wanted to rush through the pages, but so beautifully
written I wanted to linger over every sentence. Outstanding.'
Madeline Miller, Orange Prize-winning author of The Song of
Achilles
‘Gorgeous and haunting, Burial Rites will touch your heart.’
Charlotte Rogan, author of The Lifeboat
'The debut that everyone's talking about' Guardian
‘A debut of rare sophistication and beauty – a simple but moving
story, meticulously researched and hauntingly told.’ Observer
'Startlingly vivid . . . This is a tormented tale of love and
betrayal and divided loyalties recounted with heartfelt honesty . .
. An exceptional debut.' Sunday Express
‘Hannah's rendering of Agnes Magnúsdóttir is as vivid and authentic
as Mailer's Gary Gilmore . . . She has resurrected her heroine with
grace and skill; her writing style is innately lyrical . . . An
amazing book. I was completely engrossed all the way through, and
heartbroken at its end.’ Donal Ryan, Man Booker longlisted author
of The Spinning Heart
‘Haunting . . . startlingly vivid . . . This is a tormented tale of
love and betrayal and divided loyalties recounted with heartfelt
honesty . . . An exceptional debut.’ Eithne Farry, Sunday
Express
'Remarkable . . . extraordinary . . . Burial Rites is
thought-provoking and often deeply moving . . . Beautifully
written, this is a novel that will draw you in and touch your
heart. Agnes will stay with you long after the last page has been
turned.' Daily Express
'This dark thriller from Hannah Kent is a must-read . . .
Gripping.' Grazia
'Haunting and beautiful' Independent: 50 Best Beach Reads
'An intriguing scenario' Mail on Sunday
'A beautifully written and haunting story.' Kate Mosse, Mail on
Sunday Event magazine
‘Burial Rites is beautiful and compelling . . . it's the
announcement of a writer to watch.’ Guardian
'Kent is an Australian, but her beautiful first novel has the
extraordinary setting of Iceland in the 1820s . . . a wonderfully
strange and haunting story.' The Times
'One of the best “Scandinavian” crime novels I have read . . . this
powerful book has the stark and tragic trajectory of the sagas . .
. Hannah Kent’s prose is extraordinarily terse and precise as she
tells the story from several different viewpoints . . . and the
cruelty of human beings is described with vivid intensity. Yet the
beauty and fascination of this way of life is movingly portrayed,
as is the spirit of its highly literate people. Kent’s immersion in
Icelandic lore seems total, though she came from the other side of
the world. Great stories are universal.' Independent
‘Spell-binding and moving, it’s the kind of novel that gets under
your skin, moves your blood, your heart.’ Megan Abbott, author of
The End of Everything and Dare Me
A taut, atmospheric tale, compellingly told
*Irish Independent*
'This compelling, ripped-from-real-life tale reminds me of Margaret
Atwood's Alias Grace' Karin Slaughter, best-selling author of
Kisscut
'Hannah Kent has crafted a genre all her own. Burial Rites is both
a compelling thriller and a profound meditation on a mythic
landscape.' Annabel Lyon, author of The Golden Mean
‘A compelling read, heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure.’
Anne Berry, author of The Hungry Ghosts
'A haunting, accomplished debut.' Psychologies
Based on the true story of the last woman to be executed in
Iceland, Burial Rites is an incredibly moving novel and Hannah Kent
evokes the harsh tundras of Iceland and the desolation of a
powerless young woman living out her last days in a masterful way.'
Stylist.co.uk 'Top 10 Must Reads of August
Burial Rites is totally gripping & beautiful and has so much Nordic
gloom that you feel frozen reading it.
*India Knight*
In 19th-century Ireland, convicted killer Agnes Magnúsdóttir is
sentenced to death for stabbing her lover, but still has the power
to change lives. Kent brilliantly recreates a community surviving
in an inhospitable climate, and conveys the ineluctable force of
one woman's personality on those around her.
*Financial Times*
A remarkable, bleakly beautiful re-imagining of the last woman
publicly executed in Iceland
*Sunday Times*
It's hard to believe that Burial Rites . . . is a first novel.
Based on the last case of capital punishment in Iceland, in 1830,
it's meticulously researched, with the past so strongly evoked that
one can almost smell it: a simple, moving story, told with
confidence.
*Guardian*
'Compelling' Woman & Home
'A haunting and immersive debut.' The List
'This is a truly powerful novel, beautifully written . . . Desolate
but brilliant.' The Lady
'A highly impressive debut . . . Despite the fact that we know
Agnes's fate from the outset, the power of the writing makes her
story utterly compelling, and Kent skilfully leads us to question
the extent of Agnes's guilt throughout. In the process she paints a
vivid, if bleak picture of the society.' Sunday Herald
'A gripping tale.' New York Times
Hannah Kent's Burial Rites, a remarkably assured debut, takes a
tale of crime and punishment in 1820s Iceland and through it opens
a window, lit with harsh brilliance, on to an alien world.
*Independent*
'A darkly gothic romance, a love song to the bleak beauty of
Iceland, and a moving eulogy to a woman who had the odds stacked
against her.' Irish Examiner
'An outstandingly good debut . . . I found myself spellbound . . .
Kent has done a great deal of research and transformed its results
into a work of art.' Literary Review
'A deeply compelling debut; gripping yet lyrical.' Irish
Examiner
'Vividly descriptive . . . beautifully written, thoughtfully
presented and utterly memorable.' Choice Magazine
'Exceptionally powerful and original . . . Hannah Kent skilfully
conjures up the daunting landscape of the country, in which
individuals, dwarfed by their surroundings, must always struggle to
survive.' BBC History Magazine
'An accomplished gem, its prose as crisp and sparkling as its
northern setting.' Geraldine Brooks, author of Year of Wonders
'This amazing debut has literary prize written all over it . . .
[and] all the hallmarks of a brooding Nordic noir' Marie Claire
'A gripping narrative of love and murder that inhabits a landscape
and time frame as bleak and unforgiving as the crime and punishment
that occurred there.' San Francisco Chronicle
'With language flickering, sparkling and flashing like the northern
lights . . . A magical exercise in artful literary fiction' Kirkus
starred review
‘Burial Rites, Kent's compelling fictionalised account of the end
days of Agnes Magnúsdóttir . . . with its glimpse into icy frontier
lands, the struggles of a farming peasantry, the looming shadow of
an executioner's axe and a strong, if misunderstood, female
character . . . uses extracts from the historical records to stitch
together a credible account of a woman more victim than villain.’
Age
‘The most talked about Australian debut novel in years. Burial
Rites reimagines the life and death of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last
woman to be executed in Iceland.’ Australian
‘Hannah Kent has a fine turn of phrase . . . that makes Agnes
Magnúsdóttir, the central figure in her debut novel, both elusive
and captivating . . . Kent is to be commended for being drawn to a
story and a character rather than any narrow cultural agenda.
Burial Rites is far removed from us in time and place and,
ironically, this fact makes it an intimate experience. It draws
close to the bones and sinews of human experience as it gives voice
to a yearning for more than the law can provide.’ Sydney Morning
Herald
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