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Aug 16, 2018JLMason rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Based on a true story, this book is a well-researched account of life in early 19th century northern Iceland. Life was nasty, brutish, and short. People scratched out a living on subsistence farms, but owning land and livestock conferred relative wealth compared to the paupers, orphans, and hired help who had to rely on the community and poor farmers for work to survive. Suspense is maintained until the end as the mystery of what really happened on the farm is spun out in third person and first person accounts interspersed with real historical documents about the trial and execution. But what fascinates are the details about close, shared living quarters and about the endless tasks on the farm from spring to harvest to slaughter that must be done for survival over the long, dark, cold winter months.