Australian Kent fell in love with Iceland as an exchange student and this novel radiates her profound feelings for the land and its historical inhabitants. Building on contemporary records, Kent imagines the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, executed in 1830 for stabbing her lover. Agnes's story gradually emerges during the months of her imprisonment on a remote farm, the people and their survival in extreme conditions as potently and poetically evoked as Agnes herself. Absolutely haunting.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 74 Autumn 2013 ) |
