Burial Rites, by Hannah Kent

The first novel of Adelaide writer Hannah Kent has been highly acclaimed and awarded. Hype can be off-putting and a story of the last Icelandic woman to be executed sounds grim and not hugely appealing. But latecomers to the book will be rewarded with a stark but engaging tale set in rural Iceland in the 1820s. Immaculate research is blended seamlessly into the fictionalised account of the life and death and Agnes, informing it but never overwhelming it. Believable and moving, the harsh life and landscape is not romanticised. Kent delivers a strong sense of place, which is key to the story of a woman trapped and condemned by the circumstances of her difficult life.