Murder, fire, ice…
Burial Rites follows the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last person to be executed in Iceland before the death penalty was abolished in 1928.
Read this if you…
Can’t get enough of Nordic noir, Scandi crime or, like me, are just generally obsessed with Iceland and the lands of the north.
What’s it about?
Sentenced to death for her part in the murder of two men, Agnes Magnúsdóttir has to spend her last days at a remote Icelandic farmhouse working for a local family, who – due to the workings of the Icelandic legal system at the time – have been tasked with watching over Agnes during her final months. The book focuses on the fraught relationship between the various family members and Agnes, as they struggle to reconcile the image of a bloodthirsty murderer with this quiet, hardworking woman – living uncomfortably close to them in the family’s claustrophobic cabin.
It can be a slow read at times, and I’m not going to lie – was sometimes a little difficult to continue with if I wasn’t in the right mood. But, this actually suited the story perfectly: after all, it is a story about the final days of a woman as she awaits her execution.
Layers and layers of oppression unfold throughout the novel: the bleak frozen landscape and harsh winter that condemns all to a life holed up inside for months on end; the reality of a young woman’s existence if she has no family or social standing; her vulnerability to the whims of others, and ultimately the cruelty of a manipulative older man.
Burial Rites may not be the easiest read, and is incredibly sad. Throughout the novel, no matter how much you may hope that Agnes will somehow elude her fate, you’re aware that ultimately there is no escape. But that’s where the beauty of the novel lies: a real, raw, uncompromising piece of storytelling.
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