Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

I was very fortunate enough to attend the book launch of Hannah Kent's debut novel Burial Rites on Tuesday, a book that is absolutely fantastic. I literally cannot sing it's praises enough, I was hooked from the very first page.

"In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnúsdóttir 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 Jón Jónsson, his wife and their two daughters. Horrified to have a convicted murderer in their midst, the family avoid contact with Agnes. Only Tóti, 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 realization that all is not as they had assumed."

Based on actual events, Burial Rites is an astonishing and moving novel about the truths we claim to know and the ways in which we interpret what we’re told. In beautiful, cut-glass prose, Hannah Kent portrays Iceland’s formidable landscape, in which every day is a battle for survival, and asks, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

Not only is Burial Rites a compelling read, heartbreaking and haunting, but it is one of those rare gems of a book that the publisher has spent a bit of money designing. The hardback is small enough to throw in your bag, but delicate enough for you not want to. The minimalist front cover, with simple font and a stunning black edge to the pages is just the right touch, intriguing one to pick up the book and open it and once opened, you won't want to close it! A perfect example of a book people will spend more on just to have the physical copy instead of the kindle version. Well done Picador!

So just in case you weren't sure, I really do recommend you go out and buy Burial Rites. It'll take your breath away.