Preview
  • Burial Rites

  • The BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick
  • By: Hannah Kent
  • Narrated by: Morven Christie
  • Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (448 ratings)

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Burial Rites

By: Hannah Kent
Narrated by: Morven Christie
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Publisher's summary

BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick!

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who is charged with the brutal murder of her former master.

Inspired by a true story,
Burial Rites is perfect for fans of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

- The Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist
- The Guardian First Book Award Shortlist
- The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards Shortlist

Iceland, 1829 – Agnes Magnúsdóttir is condemned to death for her part in the murder of her lover.

Agnes is sent to wait out her final months on the farm of district officer Jón Jónsson, his wife and their two daughters. Horrified to have a convicted murderer in their midst, the family avoid contact with Agnes. Only Tóti, the young assistant priest appointed Agnes’s spiritual guardian, is compelled to try to understand her. As the year progresses and the hardships of rural life force the household to work side by side, Agnes’s story begins to emerge and with it the family’s terrible realization that all is not as they had assumed.

Based on actual events, Burial Rites is an astonishing and moving novel about the truths we claim to know and the ways in which we interpret what we’re told. In beautiful, cut-glass prose, Hannah Kent portrays Iceland’s formidable landscape, in which every day is a battle for survival, and asks, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

'Outstanding' – Madeline Miller

'Sublime' – Sunday Telegraph

©2013 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd (P)2013 Hannah Kent
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What listeners say about Burial Rites

Average customer ratings
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loved it

I love the reader's voice as well as the story. I even listened to the last few chapters talking about the story and the true events it's based on.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent story - deep characters

I loved this from a story standpoint as well as an exposure into a historical time, in a place I’ve never been. It was a fantastic book. Emotional, and excellent character development!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Heart breaking

This book is so visceral and heart breaking. The reading is flawless. Very highly recommended.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant, beautiful, haunting and heartbreaking!

Burial Rites is an absolutely unforgettable and magnificent novel and one of my new all-time favorites! The narrator was perfect!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very lyrical and compellingly adictive.

Somber but beautiful. The historical accuracy to this event is what makes it stand apart.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Heartbreaking and beautiful

One of the best books I've ever read. Like Ilugastadir it is at the same time harsh, isolating, cold and beautiful and moving.

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Very Enjoyable

Morven Christie narration possibly the best ever I has listened to on Audible.
Well researched, well written. Author has powerful command of metaphor.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

the icelandic is nit accuard at times.

the pronounciation on Icelandic names, places and words where bit accuard to hear for a native speaker. but the book is good.

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Beautiful written, true literary craftsmanship

What an engaging story, fully developed characters and as Hannah Kent herself says ‘a dark love letter to Iceland’. Loved it

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Beautiful, interesting & heartbreaking

I enjoy getting to know a new time or place through work fiction. This was such an interesting story set in Iceland in the 1820s! The difficulties of living there, both culturally and practically, we’re so well covered in this book. It is such an interesting study of the characters involved at that time, although the end is heartbreaking. Other than the end, I found this book compelling and a good read.

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