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In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnúsdóttir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of two men. Agnes is sent to wait out the time leading to her execution on the farm of District Officer Jón Jónsson, his wife and their two daughters. Horrified to have a convicted murderess in their midst, the family avoids speaking with Agnes.
Only Tóti, the young assistant reverend appointed as Agnes’s spiritual guardian, is compelled to try to understand her, as he attempts to salvage her soul.
As the summer months fall away to winter and the hardships of rural life force the household to work side by side, Agnes’s ill-fated tale of longing and betrayal begins to emerge. And as the days to her execution draw closer, the question burns: did she or didn’t she?
Based on a true story, Burial Rites is a deeply moving novel about personal freedom: who we are seen to be versus who we believe ourselves to be, and the ways in which we will risk everything for love.In beautiful, cut-glass prose, Hannah Kent portrays Iceland’s formidable landscape, where 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?
(Summary provided by the author)
Hannah Kent’s first novel, the international bestseller, Burial Rites (2013), was translated into over 30 languages and won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, and the Victorian Premier's People's Choice Award. It was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award, the Stella Prize, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, amongst others. It is currently being adapted for film by Sony TriStar.
Hannah’s second novel, The Good People (2016) has been translated into 10 languages and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction, the Indie Books Award for Literary Fiction, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, and the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. It is currently being adapted for film by Aquarius Productions.
Hannah’s latest novel, Devotion (2021) won Booktopia’s Favourite Australian Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Indie Book Awards for Literary Fiction, and the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year. It is currently being adapted for film by Dollhouse Pictures.
Hannah’s original feature film, Run Rabbit Run, starring Sarah Snook (Succession), was directed by Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale) and produced by Carver and XYZ Films. It premiered in the Midnight Section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, with Netflix acquiring a majority of global rights. Hannah is also writing screenplays for The Good People and Devotion.
Hannah co-founded Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings with Rebecca Starford. She has written for The New York Times, Vogue Australia, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Meanjin, Qantas Magazine and LitHub.
Hannah lives and works on Peramangk Country in South Australia.
(Biography provided by the author)
