It Seemed Like a Dark and Tragic Tale: A Conversation with Hannah Kent

Our vote was unanimous: The Discover selection committee readers and I were completely taken by Hannah Kent’s moody and spellbinding debut, Burial Rites (Discover, Fall 2013).  Set against a stark Icelandic landscape, a servant woman convicted of murder reveals the truth behind her story as she awaits her execution. This is terrific, old-fashioned storytelling, where language and landscape are inextricably bound to character and plot.  Kent discusses the true story behind her debut novel, the “complicated” relationship between fact and fiction in Burial Rites, and how the volcanic, other-worldly island landscape became almost character of its own, among other things, here on the Discover blog.