Hannah Kent

I first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir when I was an exchange student in the north of Iceland.

— Hannah Kent

“But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the only way to smooth a mistake is to…

— Hannah Kent

“I can picture the way he looked, and recall the weather, and the play of light across his stubbled face, but that…

— Hannah Kent

...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on…

— Hannah Kent

“They will say ‘Agnes’ and see the spider, the witch caught in the webbing of her own fateful weaving. They might see…

— Hannah Kent

“I could flee to the heath. Show them that they cannot keep me locked up, that I am a thief of time…

— Hannah Kent

“She made mistakes and others made up their minds about her. People around here don’t let you forget your misdeeds. They think…

— Hannah Kent

“I did not dream in the storeroom at Stóra-Borg. While I curled up on the wooden slats with a moldy horse-skin for…

— Hannah Kent

I was a very imaginative child, and my parents were very encouraging of that. My sister and I would put on plays;…

— Hannah Kent

“I could have been a pauper; I could have been their servant, until those words! They anchor me to a memory that…

— Hannah Kent

“his grandmother walking the lane. He will be frightened, she thought. It may be that he has returned and is frightened. He…

— Hannah Kent

“Lauga had asked Margret whether she thought there would be an outward hint of the evil that drives a person to murder.…

— Hannah Kent

I had expected that at some point during the first draft a light would go on, and I would understand, finally, how…

— Hannah Kent

How can I say what it was like to breathe again? I felt newborn. I staggered in the light of the world…

— Hannah Kent

“Up in the highlands blizzards howl like the widows of fishermen and the wind blisters the skin off your face. Winter comes…

— Hannah Kent

“Heavenly Father, forgive me my sins. Forgive me my weakness and fear. Help me to fight my cowardice. Strengthen my ability to…

— Hannah Kent

“chronicled their hatred towards me, a mark here, bruises, blossoming like star clusters under the skin, black and yellow smoke trapped under…

— Hannah Kent

As though prayer could simply pluck sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the…

— Hannah Kent

It’s not fair. People claim to know you through the things you’ve done, and not by sitting down and listening to you…

— Hannah Kent

“The last bed, the last roof, the last floor. The last of everything brings lugs of pain, as though there will be…

— Hannah Kent

I used to have 20/20 vision, believe it or not; that's gone because of all the reading I did when I wasn't…

— Hannah Kent

I have a deep and ongoing love of Iceland, particular the landscape, and when writing 'Burial Rites,' I was constantly trying to…

— Hannah Kent

“Now comes the darkening sky and a cold wind that passes right through you, as though you are not there, it passes…

— Hannah Kent

“I cannot think of what it was not to love him. To look at him and realise I had found what I…

— Hannah Kent

“It was not hard to believe a beautiful woman capable of murder, Margret thought.As it says in the sagas, Opt er flago…

— Hannah Kent

“The weight of his fingers on mine, like a bird landing on a branch. It was the drop of a match. I…

— Hannah Kent

“God has had His chance to free me, and for reasons known to Him alone, He has pinned me to ill fortune,…

— Hannah Kent

I still don't know why, exactly, but I do think people can have a spiritual connection to landscape, and I certainly did…

— Hannah Kent