If you haven't read Hannah Kent's books, you should.

Hannah Kent is a fantastic author, with a rare ability to transport the reader completely to another time and place. I have just finished reading The Good People and cannot stop thinking about it. I read it in the car on a journey through France, with 4 others in the car including 3 children, and despite those distractions I was totally immersed in the world she describes.

Hannah Kent has only written 2 novels and both start from a fascinating point of inspiration - old court reports. She takes a particular character from history, out of these court reports and builds a fictional account of their lives and crimes, with the help of contemporary newspaper reports. And the results are engrossing stories with a crime / mystery at their heart, where the reader needs to discover what happens.

The Good People takes place in rural Ireland in the 1820s and tells the story of Nora Leahy  whose daughter and husband die within months of each other leaving her alone to take care of her crippled grandson, Michael Kelliher. She hires a maid, Mary, to help with this task and together they seek the advice of local "wise woman" Nance Roche. In this case, Nance Roche and Michael Kelliher are the real people mentioned in court reports from Tralee, Co.Kerry, in 1826.

The community these characters live in is very remote and life is hard. Famine and eviction are very real, almost constant threats. Whilst godfearing Catholic people, heavily influenced by the local priest, there is also strong belief in fairies, known as "the Good People" and many rituals are practised to discourage fairy mischief in their lives. Nance Roche is often consulted by villagers who believe she understands the ways of the fairies.
The world described is so different to our own, yet the characters are utterly believable and often likeable. Particularly touching is the relationship between Mary and Michael, the boy she cares for. She begins by being frightened off him, but soon grows to love him.

This is a desperately sad story of a community that has their traditional ways and beliefs come sharply into conflict with the modern world, with tragic consequences. 

Kent's debut novel, Burial Rites, is also set in the 1820s, but this time in Iceland. It concerns the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be executed in Iceland, who was convicted of murder in 1828. She is given into the reluctant care of a farming family until the sentence can be carried out, and is assigned a trainee minister as her spiritual mentor and the story of her crime is revealed through her meetings with him. Again, the writing is fantastic and the time and place is evoked with incredible intensity. Not a happy story, but a brilliant work of fiction that will totally transport the reader.

I am really hoping that Hannah Kent writes another book soon!