Bog Queen - by Anna North (Paperback)

About the Book

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

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"In this ecologically inflected novel, Agnes, a forensic anthropologist is asked to identify the body of a woman found in an English peat bog . . . the novel alternates between Agnes's life and that of the woman, a Celtic druid . . . Agnes's investigation sparks a new attention to the world around her, and the novel's sensibility mirrors the peat organisms themselves." --The New Yorker

"Bog Queen is a literary page turner . . . North balances the nitty-gritty of anthropological work with the mystery of an Iron Age druid, unraveling how she ended up the titular 'bog queen.'" --USA Today

"North reaches new heights with this brilliant novel." --Publishers Weekly, starred review, "Best Books of the Year"

"A strangely well-preserved Iron Age body turns up in an English bog, and the American forensic anthropologist on the case is thrust into an absorbing, complex mystery." --People Magazine, "Best Books of the Month"

"Anna North's new novel captures attention even before the first page." --Scott Simon, NPR "Weekend Edition"

"Daring, delightful, and moving." --Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of REAL AMERICANS

"An absolute astonishment." --Vauhini Vara, author of Pulitzer Prize Finalist THE IMMORTAL KING RAO

"An intricate work of historical fiction, a tightly woven mystery reminiscent of the police procedural Bones, and perhaps most of all, a transfixing excavation of the competing interests converging on the natural world in our present moment of ecological devastation, economic precarity, and historical forgetting . . . This expansive tale is about much more than a battle among scientists, environmentalists, and corporate interests. In confronting questions of duty, ambition, and community, North's magical novel renders the world-both ancient and modern-mysterious to us again." --Foreign Policy

"I was completely engrossed by Anna North's Bog Queen, a tense and atmospheric literary thriller with a strong sense of place." --Esquire, "Best Books of the Year"

"A remarkably crafted tale that asks important questions about the imprint we leave on our loved ones, our culture, and our land." --Booklist

"In measured, textural prose, North takes us from the expected mysteries of a body in a bog into a reflection on the web of life that links everyone. That insight, com-bined with a page-turning narrative, makes Bog Queen a book with something to offer any thoughtful reader." --BookPage

"A memorable tale of the unexpected linkages of history, land, and female power. North widens her range with this layered mystery-meets-ancient-history mashup." --Kirkus Reviews

"To this resonant mystery, the author Anna North brings a timely exploration of power, landscape and deep time, building a mesmerising novel." --The Observer

"[A] complex and beautifully written story that explores female power and leadership across time, as well as environmental concerns. It also meshes past and present in surprising ways, illustrating the connections between humans and nature and our evolving belief systems . . . Bog Queen offers everything fans love about historical fiction: a fascinating look back through time with memorable characters, remarkable settings and a story that moves along at a steady clip." --KMUW (Wichita NPR)

"The latest novel by Anna North explores questions of environmentalism, tradition and whose stories are told and remembered. Told from several perspectives, we not only hear from present-day Agnes, a forensic anthropologist called upon to identify a body found in a bog, but also from an Iron Age druid and from the bog's moss itself, as North gives a powerful voice to a sacred witness." --Ms., "Best Books of the Year"

"In Anna North's Bog Queen, the literary weird girl is Agnes, a forensic anthropologist; but she's mirrored by the body and presence of a weird girl who has been dead for thousands of years. Agnes also has a strange relationship with the bog itself - for her, the moss is a sentient creature, which helps her as she unravels the story of the dead woman in the bog" --CrimeReads

"A page-turning mystery and a graceful, sincere evocation of internal and external power struggles in changing worlds, from Roman Britain to a climate-broken UK. Bog Queen sparkles like unearthed treasure." --Kaliane Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of THE MINISTRY OF TIME

"With rich, elegiac prose, Anna North's Bog Queen travels between modern day England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe to ask what we owe the past, the earth, and ultimately, each other. A book of magic and healing." --Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY

"Wise, beautifully written, and transcendent in feeling, Bog Queen is exactly the kind of novel I love. North deftly weaves between the past and present to show us the complicated and far-reaching web that connects us all through time and space.
" --Rita Chang-Eppig, author of DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA

"A lightning strike of a novel by a visionary storyteller. Bog Queen is an earthly meditation; a page-turning mystery; and a tale of power, profit, and dominion as old as time. Anna North is simply brilliant.
" --Jung Yun, author of SHELTER and O BEAUTIFUL

"Bog Queen is an iridescent contemporary folktale, steeped with peat, memory and myth. Its writing shimmers with strange beauty, perfect for those who crave the haunting stories the earth remembers for us." --Lucy Rose, author of THE LAMB

"Taking parts of a true story, author Anna North spins a wonderful tale of druids, vengeful warriors, scheming kings, and a scientist who's as much of a genius as she is a nerd. The tale of the two women swings back and forth between chapters and eras, mixed with female strength and twenty-first century concerns. Even better, these perfectly mixed parts are occasionally joined by a third entity that adds a delicious note of darkness, as if whatever happens can be erased in a moment . . . If you're a fan of feminist fiction, science, or novels featuring kings, druids, and Celtic history, don't wait." --Bookworm Sez

"An atmospheric ancient mystery with a meditation on modern environmental progress." --Zoomer Magazine, "Must Reads for the Month"

"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. North keeps readers turning pages." --Christian Science Monitor

About the Author