DESCRIPTION

The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North--a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.

“An absolute astonishment.” --Vauhini Vara, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Immortal King Rao

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she's ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.

Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there's the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.

As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she's also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna North is the author of instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Outlawed, America Pacifica, and Lambda Literary Award winner The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. She is a senior correspondent at Vox. She lives in Brooklyn.

REVIEWS

“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

“Bog Queen offers something for true crime fans as well as ancient history buffs . . . The mystery unfolds in two timelines, interspersing Agnes' fascinating investigation and the environmental and ethical issues it raises with the story of the Iron Age people who once traversed the same land.” —Bookpage

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

“Bog Queen is a story I won't soon forget: exquisitely observed and filled with details about moss, druids, and dead bodies I wasn't aware I needed to know (but am now pleased to). Daring, delightful, and moving, this novel should be required reading for all of us facing a changing climate and uncertain future. I loved being inside Anna North's curious, compassionate perspective; I'll follow her anywhere, and to any time.” —Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of REAL AMERICANS

“I can't remember the last time a novel so moved and transfixed me. Bog Queen is infused with a profound wisdom about human ambition across the millennia-how enormous it has been, and also how insignificant-that seems to transcend human understanding, as if delivered by the old gods themselves. An absolute astonishment.” —Vauhini Vara, author of Pulitzer Prize Finalist THE IMMORTAL KING RAO