Bog Queen

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, bestselling author of THE LAMBA 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, bestselling author of THE MINISTRY OF TIMEBog 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, bestselling author of REAL AMERICANSI 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 RAOA 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 BEAUTIFULWith 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 SKYWise, 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 SEATo this resonant mystery, Anna North brings a timely exploration of power, landscape and deep time, building a mesmerising novel – Hephzibah Anderson * Observer *Two dauntless women, centuries apart, find themselves coping with shifting alliances in the changeable territory of northern England. The dual timelines unspool the stories of an awkward forensic scientist named Agnes and a young Druid priestess, whose beautifully preserved body becomes the focal point of an involving drama, as contemporary ecological woes interweave with the mysteries of the past in a mossy, seemingly sentient terrain – Eithne Farry * Daily Mail *A beautifully rendered tale that spans two millennia of history and centres on two very different women and their relationship with the marshes of this provincial English town … Thrilling * Buzz Magazine *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 *A remarkably crafted tale that asks important questions about the imprint we leave on our loved ones, our culture, and our land * Booklist *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 *The mysteries in Bog Queen captivate … Highly recommended * Historical Novel Society *Piercing … Part of the novel’s thrill comes from the way in which North leaves the rest of the mystery for the reader to piece together … North reaches new heights with this brilliant novel * Publishers Weekly, starred review *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 *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’ *

Anna North is the author of three novels: Outlawed, America Pacifica, and The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. Published in 2021, Outlawed was a New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club and Belletrist pick. In addition to her fiction writing, she is also a senior correspondent at Vox, covering American work and family life. Previously, she was a writer and editor at the New York Times, Salon, BuzzFeed and Jezebel. Anna North grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2009, and now lives in Brooklyn.