Five stars for the research alone this book must have taken. But in addition to the historical elements, the novel weaves a heart-wrenching tale of a condemned woman's difficult and painful life and the months leading up to her planned execution. It's fiction on top of non-fiction, as the main character was a real Icelander condemned for a crime she committed with two other people. Or did she commit it? The book does a wonderful job of getting us to that answer with rich description, an exotic setting, and compelling characters.