As well as having an amazing narrative, this book is quite stunning in physical design. It is a simple design but is quite striking. The front cover has a purple/blue feather that wraps around to the back cover. Adding to this, the pages are edged in the same colour.
This is a first print, first edition, published by PICADOR in 2013. It is signed on the title page by Hannah Kent.
Here is a synopsis of this wonderful book -
A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.
Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?
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