In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnúsdóttir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of two men. She is sent to wait out the months leading up to her execution with the family of a district officer. The hardships of rural life force the family to work with Agnes, and when she begins her whispered confession one winter night, they realise that all is not as they had assumed
'A story of swirling sagas, poetry, bitterness, claustrophobia . . . through the long countdown towards Agnes's fate, it is Kent's heart-racing imagery that lingers . . . even the bleakness of Agnes's end, its gut-churning fear, holds an exhilaration that borders on the sublime.' Sunday Telegraph