by Hannah Kent
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Just released: September 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Genre: Iceland, Thriller
Hardback: 336 pages
Rating: 5
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A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.
Riveting and rich with lyricism, BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?
PeekAbook:
Imagery to note:
That dress was my last possession. There is nothing in the world I now own; even the heat my body gives out is taken away by the summer breeze.
-chapter 3, page 74
Quote to note:
Blind is a man without a book.
-chapter 7, page 180
My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): bleak
Life on a farm in Iceland during the autumn and winter seasons are portrayed with such loneliness and harshness that coincides with this mystery thriller tale. Even though this is based on a true story of which we already know the ending, the author tells this story like a traditional icelandic saga that keeps you engaged to the very end.
FYI:
A "complete Hunger Games reunion" is in process for the film adaptation of Hannah Kent's novel Burial Rites, according to Deadline.com. The team of Jennifer Lawrence, screenwriter Gary Ross and producer Allison Shearmur will be joined by Lionsgate, which "has started negotiations for the package. The deal isn't done, but I'm betting that it gets done this week. This comes after Kent got a seven-figure deal for her first novel from Little, Brown," Deadline.com wrote. -per Shelf Awareness
* review copy courtesy of publisher
* part of event: Gone Girl Girls
