Bog Queen
A Novel
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3.8 • 28 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A NEW YORKER AND ESQUIRE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION SCIENCE + LITERATURE SELECTED TITLE
"Two smart, ambitious women born two millennia apart--a Celtic druid and a forensic scientist--bring unexpected acclaim to one another . . . a strangely beguiling tale that celebrates perseverance, scientific inquiry, environmentalism, progress, and cooperation." --Christian Science Monitor
When Agnes arrives in the peat bogs of Northern England to study an anthropological marvel--an Iron Age body--she isn't expecting the controversy. Peat-cutters are looking to profit from the bog, activists are demanding it be preserved, scientists are clamoring for the next discovery. And then there is the moss itself: a repository of artifacts, with its own dark stories to tell.
Flashing between post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe, Bog Queen brims with ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strengths in a landscape more mysterious than either can imagine.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Inspired by the discovery of the preserved bog body called the Lindow Woman, this novel explores the collision between abstract goals and real peoples’ concerns. Agnes, a socially awkward but brilliant American anthropologist attached to the Ludlow coroner’s office in England, is asked to determine the cause of death of a body found preserved in a peat bog. It’s thought to be the victim in a decades-old cold case, but this woman died nearly 2000 years ago. Agnes believes she owes the body the courtesy of determining how she died. This brings her into conflict with the niece of the still-undiscovered murder victim, local environmentalists concerned about further damage to the bog, and the bog’s owners, who want to sell to developers. A parallel story is narrated by the Iron Age woman, a socially awkward but clever druid whose negotiations with a Romanized king puts her in conflict with the local warlord. And the moss colony in the bog also provides its own views on existence. Anna North’s thoughtful novel probes big questions in a way that’s both profound and relatable.
