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

“I was living in a small Icelandic town where I felt conspicuous as a foreignor, yet also socially isolated. I didn’t speak any Icelandic at that stage, it was winter, and the days were gripped by darkness for up to twenty hours at a time. It was during this early period of loneliness that I happened to drive through a very striking place called Vatnsdalur, a valley covered in hundreds of small hills. When I asked my travelling companions if the area was significant for any reason, they told me that it had been the site of the last executions in Iceland, which had taken place well over 150 years ago. Immediately curious, I asked them what had happened, and was told that a young man and woman had been led out to the hills and beheaded by broad axe for their role in the brutal murder of two sleeping men.” — Hannah Kent on the genesis of Burial Rites.