Book Review: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

* Contains no spoilers

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This is a book to devour in enormous gulps. When you do come up for air, fill yourself with some tea and then settle back into your armchair, to be borne aloft once more.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is a bittersweet and melancholy tale of a woman named Agnes Magnusdottir. Set in Iceland in 1829 the book showcases Agnes’ life and all of its shimmering promise and how her life has been tragically hemmed in on all sides by poverty, circumstances and bad luck.

Inspired by a true story, this bewitching and magical tale really draws you in. The heroine Agnus Magnusdottir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of a well-liked local man Natan Ketilsson.

As a ‘dead woman walking’, Agnes is placed with a local family until her death sentence is carried out by way of an axe fall. She is allocated a local priest as her council to (in the eyes of the law) redeem her and prepare her for the afterlife.

She confides in a young and gentle man of the cloth named Toti about her secrets and he pieces together the puzzle of how she came to be in a condemned position.

The presence of Agnes in the village in turns disturbs villagers and in other cases comforts them as she awaits her fate.

The writing in this book is just sublime.

Shortlisted for the Stella Prize 2014 and Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014, this is probably the best book I’ve read in ages.

Burial Rites reminds me of another great historical novel (based on a true story) about a woman living in poverty who is condemned for murder – Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, yet another classic.

Just like Alias Grace, Burial Rites is a gritty, dark and haunting read. You can practically taste rusty blood in your mouth as you read it. I am not one for crime novels at all, but novels set in Iceland and historical novels yes. Even if you aren’t one for gory novels, you will enjoy this one.

5*/5