Second Tuesday Book Group – September 2014

Summary

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

Comments

• Story about Agnes Magnúsdóttir who was condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of two men in Iceland in1829.
• Really liked the book, interesting, emotional; devastating end.
• Wonderful; great writing good descriptive on relationships. Showed what life really was like for the time; hardship.
• The writing was very vivid and took the reader on a great journey.
• One of the best books read this year. Very different, good insight into the way of living and different class of living standards.