The Good People
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2.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the multi-award-winning author of Burial Rites with new novel Devotion out now
In 1825, in a remote valley in Ireland, three women are brought together by troubling events.
Nóra cares for her orphaned four-year-old grandson, who can neither walk nor speak. She hires a servant girl, Mary, to help her. Soon, Mary hears rumours in the valley about the dark powers of this strange little boy.
In desperation, Nóra and Mary turn to Nance Roche, a woman who locals say has the knowledge. That she consorts with the Good People, and only Nance can return those whom they have taken ...
PRAISE FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE
'A thoroughly engrossing entrée into the macabre nature of a vanished society' Tom Keneally
'Dark, poetic and intense' Kate Forsyth
'A serious and compelling novel about how those in desperate circumstances cling to ritual as a bulwark against their own powerlessness' THE GUARDIAN
'A gripping, adept and intelligent reconstruction of the past' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Australian author Hannah Kent’s bestselling 2013 novel Burial Rites was a ripper read; her follow-up is an otherworldly exploration of fairy folklore and superstition. Set in an isolated valley in 19th-century Ireland, The Good People tells the story of three women whose lives are forever changed by a boy who can neither speak nor walk. Kent’s descriptions of the landscape’s harsh beauty and her characters’ hardscrabble lives are stirring and cinematic. Suspenseful and character-driven, this is historical fiction that balances supernatural themes with thoughtful, grounded storytelling.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Faith, folk-knowledge, and fear coalesce in remote 19th-century Ireland in this second novel from Kent (Burial Rites). When her daughter and husband die amid what the community considers dark omens unmoving birds, mysterious lights, a raging storm N ra Leahy dreads a future of backbreaking work in order to pay her rent and care for her four-year-old grandson Miche l. Once hale and healthy, the boy was delivered to N ra's doorstep after the sudden death of his mother mute, unable to walk, and starving. Bitter gossip at the well and by the hearth questions how N ra's luck soured so quickly, why the valley cows' milk is drying up, and why none of the townspeople ever see the ailing boy. Rumors and dark signs weigh on N ra until she seeks help outside of her comfort zone: old Nance Roche's knowledge of the Good People the fairies. But the old hermit's cures of nettle, nightshade, and foxglove bring nearly as much risk as reward. Defying the valley's newly appointed priest, Nance, N ra, and her young housemaid, Mary Clifford, set out to determine whether Miche l is a boy or the fairy changeling the valley fears him to be. Though rife with description, backstory, and a surfeit of gossip, the book's pervasive sense of foreboding and clear narrative arcs keep the tale immersive. Kent leads the reader on a rocky, disquieting journey to the misty crossroads of Irish folk beliefs past and future.
