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Overall Summary
Hannah Kent’s novel Burial Rites tells a story about Agnes Magnúsdottir, the last person executed in Iceland. The book begins with Agnes already convicted of murder and sentenced to death. She is taken to live at Kornsá farm by Jón, Margrét, Lauga and Steina (Jón’s wife and their daughters). Meanwhile Assistant Reverend Tóti accepts his position as her spiritual advisor.
At first, the family at Kornsá is afraid of Agnes. She helps them with their chores and talks to Tóti when she isn’t working. They are suspicious of her because they do not know who she really is or why she has come to live there. However, as time passes, Agnes becomes more familiar with the family and tells Tóti about herself during his visits. He learns that she was a foster child whose mother abandoned her and lied about her father’s identity. Agnes also reveals that one sibling died while another is unknown to her; Inga (her foster mother) died in childbirth; and that Ingveldur (Agnes’ real mother) abandoned both children so long ago neither can remember what happened exactly but it left a scar on each of them for life.
One day, Blöndal asks Tóti to explain the methods he used when investigating Agnes. He tells him that they mostly just talked and that’s why he wasn’t able to get any information out of her. Blöndal is not satisfied with this answer and explains what he thinks happened on the farm. According to him, Agnes killed Natan out of jealousy because she was interested in Sigga. Fridrik hit both Natan and Pétur several times with a hammer but then Agnes finished off Natan by stabbing him with a knife while Fridrik burned down the house after killing them all. After hearing his version of events, Tóti struggles to reconcile the woman he knew with the crime she committed but continues seeing her nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Agnes slowly wins over the family at Kornsá. Steina is the first to befriend Agnes because she remembers that they met once before when Steina was traveling and Agnes was kind to her. Through Steina, Agnes learns about Sigga’s appeal on her sentence so she will not be executed. Margrét appreciates what help Agnes is around the house with her bad cough, while Jón respects and trusts in what Agnes does for his wife Margrét since he can’t do it himself anymore due to his illness; this brings him closer to a relationship with both of them. Lauga hates how much respect everyone has for Agnes as time goes by; therefore, Lauga starts hating her more and more every day until one day when something happens between them that causes their relationship to go downhill even further than it already had been going..
Agnes and Tóti’s conversations reveal that Agnes had no stable home after her mother died. She worked on various farms throughout her young adulthood, where she was often subjected to sexual violence. One day while traveling, Agnes ran into her half-brother Jóas, who she then went to work with Worm Beck’s farm. After they got into a fight one night, Jóas stole Agnes’ money and left the farm without telling anyone where he was going or when he’d be back. While working there, Agnes met María (Natán’s first wife), who pointed out Natan to her as someone she could talk to about being lonely since their mutual friend Jón was gone for so long at sea fishing. They became friends during Natan’s visits to Worm’s house and eventually started a romance together. María didn’t like Natan very much because of how sad he seemed all the time; however, María did not stop speaking with Agnes until later in the book when Natán asked Agnes if she would come live with him as his housekeeper/lover/wife-to-be (it is unclear whether this means that they were engaged or married).
