I’ll try to upload a proper review soon. I’ve hardly had any time to read
novels this year (I think I’ve read about 3 compared to my usual 30+)
but this was a good one by a young South Aussie in my fav genre -
historical fiction. Not quite as good as her awesome first novel from
her PhD “burial rites” but still very interesting and dark. I’ve been
fascinated in faerie lore since I was about 7 years old (or younger - it
was the day of Hayley’s comet sighting in Sydney in the 1980s) when I
first saw (and was later given) a treasured book “faeries” by Brian
Froud & Alan Lee by a family friend -Sandy.
My score: 7.5/10
Written by an Australian, the Goodreads website describes this book as
"A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of
a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829". This is the final
book that I chose to read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge.
Started reading on my kindle: 3rd November 2013
Finished: 10th November 2013
My score: 8.5/10
This book is bleak in many ways; set in Iceland in the 1800s; dealing
with a woman convicted of murdering 2 men; the last woman in Iceland to
be executed; and this book is a fictional account (based on a lot of
historical knowledge) of this convicted woman's last few months
'imprisoned' on a remote farm. However, I found this to be a great book,
almost poetic in some of the descriptions, despite the austere
characters and landscape. You end up really feeling for the 'criminal'
Agnus, and the book develops into a bit of an inevitable tragedy,
reminding me of reading King Lear or Antigone. Very impressive book for
such a young and new South Australian author. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
