Burial Rites

Hannah Kent

2013 Nominee

Guardian First Book Award

07 March 2024
9781035038626
384 pages

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and a BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick!

'Outstanding' – Madeline Miller, author of Circe
'Gripping, intriguing and unique' – Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers

Northern Iceland, 1829.
A woman condemned to death for murdering her lover.
A family forced to take her in.
A priest tasked with absolving her.

But all is not as it seems, and time is running out: winter is coming, and with it the execution date.
Only she can know the truth. This is Agnes's story . . .

Based on actual events, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is a dark, thrilling work of historical fiction, and a beautiful and gripping read.

'One of the best Scandinavian crime novels I've read' – Independent
'Remarkable' – Sunday Times
'A must-read' – Grazia
Shorlisted for the Guardian First Book Award
Shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards

One of the many extraordinary books featured in the Picador Collection.

'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
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
'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

Books by Hannah Kent