Saturday, March 22, 2014

Burial Rites, Hannah Kent

I finished this one about a week ago, but haven't caught up here since then.

It is a fascinating book, the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be executed in Iceland.  It is interesting not only because of her story, but for the glimpses of life in Iceland in the late 1820s, which is so far removed from my own experience that I can't really begin to imagine what it must have been like.

Agnes has been convicted of murdering two men, and condemned to death by beheading.  Until sentence is carried out, she is sent to live with the family of District Officer Jon Jonsson on their farm, and the book tells of their lives until her sentence is carried out.

I liked this book very much.  

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