This is one of the best written novels I've read recently. With thoughtful, beautiful prose, Hannah Kent relays the last months of Agnes Magnusdottir's life. Iceland is such a fascinating country and Iceland in the mid-nineteenth century is unlike any place I've visited before in novels. Now I want to read so much more about this sometimes dark, almost always cold land. Convicted of the murder of two men, Agnes and two "accomplices," Fridrik and Sigga (their full names are difficult to spell without the book in front of me!) are sentenced to death by beheading. Agnes is sent to live with a farmer's family and they connect with her in a deep way. Agnes' sad story will leave the reader pondering the meaning of love, friendship, innocence, guilt, good and evil. This is a novel that will leave you thinking! 
 I will remember the characters in this novel for a long time, to say the least. And now, I'm off to read more about Agnes around the internet :).