Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent is one of my favorites. Her writing style is so unique to me that I will miss reading it but have found nothing similar enough to turn to besides waiting for her next book or re-reading her previous ones. Some people might think of them as slower storytelling, but they are slow in a good way to me. They are slow in a way of taking in the details and making the mundane act seem like more. Of weaving magic into ordinary places and situations. If you like that style of narration, I think you will love Hannah Kent’s books.

This is another historical fiction from her but it is different than her previous two which relied more heavily on the historical aspect. This one brings in more of the fantastical, supernatural side and romance aspects while still being primarily based on a specific time period and Lutheran journey into South Australia.

I will say, Kent’s books are very bittersweet and melancholy in tone so be ready for that going into them, but they are also beautiful. This one is no exception, though it does change a bit in tone from the previous two books of hers. I would say that I enjoyed the first two, Burial Rites and The Good People a bit more than this one, but I think it may have more to do with the plot. The writing itself was as beautifully descriptive as always. All in all, it was a lovely read.



… (mer)

After reading Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites, I immediately added The Good People to my list, because the first has become one of my favorite books. And Kent has indeed created yet another fantastic novel with this latest book!

Much like her first book, The Good People is based on a true crime from early history with which Kent has used what documents are still available and has otherwise done extensive research on the time period and places to fill in the rest of these historical fiction novels. In both books, the accused parties are female and there is a lot included in each on how that and other prejudices and beliefs of the time periods and locations may have effected the outcome of the trials. I have found the topics of both novels to be extremely interesting and have done some of my own research into the history behind them because of this interest.

But focusing just on this book, The Good People is set in 1825 Ireland and is based on the case of the death of Michael Leahy. The main characters would really probably be considered Nora, Mary, and Nance. The book starts, however, with the death of Nora’s husband. Mr. Leahy dies suddenly and has the whole town talking about how something unnatural must have been involved due to this and other omens they observe happening around this time. Other bad things begin to happen throughout the town after this, and slowly more and more people begin to think it may have something to do with the grandchild that Nora and her late husband have been raising.

Not too long before her husband passed, Nora’s daughter also died and left behind a little boy. This boy was brought to the care of the grandparents. It was clear from the start that there was something different about Michael, as he seemed half starved and couldn’t walk or talk. He would also scream all through the night and didn’t seem to be able to tell when people would talk to him. The couple hoped that he would get better with time and care, and yet even after her husband’s death, the child’s condition only seemed to worsen.

Nora hires a maid to live in with her and help take care of Michael, but eventually she comes to her wits end between her grief, her difficulties in caring for her grandson, and the shame of anyone finding out about him and starting more rumors. She decides the only person left who may be able to help is the woman in the village who is said to have “the knowledge of the good people,” or in other words, has seen and been with the fairies and knows some of their ways and ways to cure things that they have caused. Many in the village believe Micheal to be a Changeling, after all— a child whose spirit has been “swept” away by fairies and replaced by the spirit of a fairy.

Kent creates tone in such a beautiful way and the world she creates with all these old beliefs and customs of the time and place is so rich. She delves deep into the small, quiet, every day moments of a woman that slowly looses her grip on what to do and turns to the last option she sees available to her. The way the historical customs and environment are woven into every part of the story makes both books I have read from her very atmospheric and immersive. At this point, I’ll read anything she comes out with next and am very excited at the prospect!

The Good People: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★… (mer)

This was another book that I read that maybe part of why it didn't quite appeal is it's timing. It's all about belief in Faerie and has echoes of a true case that happened and it was tragic and featured how people dealt with disability in a more superstitious time. It was tragic and horrible and while it was probably closer to the truth of things it seemed as if it was quite dismissive of things that probably worked and probably better than what doctors could do. You can imagine the stress that a parent would have been under to even think about her child being taken by the fair folk. It would be easy to look past the death and see a child having been taken and trying to imagine them with much better lives in an otherworld. I'm sure it was an ease to them.
But with children dying in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine it was hard to deal with more innocence being lost.… (mer)