The Good People
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By Hannah Kent
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1 review
Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2017
County Kerry, Ireland, 1825.
Nóra, bereft after the sudden death of her beloved husband, finds herself alone and caring for her young grandson Micheál. Micheál cannot speak and cannot walk and Nóra is desperate to know what is wrong with him. What happened to the healthy, happy grandson she met when her daughter was still alive?
Mary arrives in the valley to help Nóra just as the whispers are spreading: the stories of unexplained misfortunes, of illnesses, and the rumours that Micheál is a changeling child who is bringing bad luck to the valley.
Nance’s knowledge keeps her apart. To the new priest, she is a threat, but to the valley people she is a wanderer, a healer. Nance knows how to use the plants and berries of the woodland; she understands the magic in the old ways. And she might be able to help Micheál.
As these three women are drawn together in the hope of restoring Micheál, their world of folklore and belief, of ritual and stories, tightens around them. It will lead them down a dangerous path, and force them to question everything they have ever known.
Based on true events and set in a lost world bound by its own laws, The Good People is Hannah Kent’s startling novel about absolute belief and devoted love. Terrifying, thrilling and moving in equal measure, this long-awaited follow-up to Burial Rites shows an author at the height of her powers.
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Read as part of Gloucester Book Club. The long awaited second novel by Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites. Great descriptive writing, a tale based on a true story, of rural Ireland in 1820, where folklore and religion compete.
Three women are drawn together in the hope of restoring Micheal, a disabled boy, through folklore and belief, ritual and stories. It leads them down a deadly path!
Many of our group loved this book, while others found it more challenging. The title of the novel asks the reader to question who the good people in question might be.
Impeccably researched, it allows the reader to look through a window to see what life was like for a small peasant community in County Kerry. To see how much their lives were influenced by the fairies.
If you liked Burial Rites, you'll probably like this one.
