‘Always Home, Always Homesick’ By Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent is haunted. Not in your traditional sense by a sheet wearing spirit but by a place she cannot live and yet cannot live without.
At age 6 Hannah announced to her parents that she wanted to be a writer – “It makes sense: if books are magic, then there must be those who wield it. I long to be able to summon such magic.”
At 17, Hannah, a young Australian lass still dreaming of being a writer, went on a Rotary exchange to Iceland. Over the course of the year the country, its people, customs, food and yes, even the weather, drew her in, made her their own and have never let go. Ten years later Hannah wrote ‘Burial Rites’, the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be executed in Iceland. It became a best seller and propelled Hannah into literary stardom.
This book is a love letter to Iceland itself, a memoir of her exchange year, the discovery of Agnes and her story that was to have such a profound effect on her life. It also recounts the return visits she made and the research that gave ‘Burial Rites’ its richness and depth. The writing is beautiful and filled with the wonder Hannah experienced in Iceland’s raw and majestic landscape. It offers a peek into a culture that more than any other develops and supports writers of all genres. I loved this book, read it in one day and while it contains so many little gifts to the reader (think Icelandic Christmas traditions, adventures in eating rotten shark!) it really is about the hold Iceland has on Hannah and her need to express and understand that hold even as she lives and writes and raises her family in Australia.
Available in May at your local bookshop.
