The Glass Woman

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A mesmerizing and visceral tale of faith and resilience, love and agency, and the corrosive effects of our deepest secrets. Brooklyn Digest Jon is evasive and enigmatic, not allowing her to mix with the other villagers and rarely showing her any affection other than giving her a small glass figurine of a woman. He leaves Rosa alone in their croft for long periods of time, and she begins to hear strange noises from the attic she has been prevented from entering, which causes her to fear for her sanity. Rósa couldn’t help being fearful of her new husband, and of his apprentice, Pétur. She tried to please Jón, and sometimes she succeeded, but she struggled to cope with staying in their croft alone, with little to occupy her time. Seclusion from the outside world isn’t the only troubling aspect of her new life—Rósa is also forbidden from going into Jón’s attic. When Rósa begins to hear strange noises from upstairs, she turns to the local woman in an attempt to find solace. But the villager’s words are even more troubling—confirming many of the rumors about Jón’s first wife, Anna, including that he buried her body alone in the middle of the night.

The book's writing is gorgeous and sweeping and that, together with the vivid characterizations make this a book well worth reading. Some stories she will not tell. She will choose, day by day, which truths to reveal. And, gradually, the tales she tells will become truth. In this way, she will live with who she has become. She is a woman capable of violence. She is a woman who did what was necessary. She is a woman who has survived. Anyone who has read Hannah Kent's novel, Burial Rites, already knows that croft-life in Iceland in the olden days was hard. In The Glass Woman we discover that 140 years earlier, it was even harder. Not enough food, warmth or light. Too much smoke, gossip and superstition. Rósa has always dreamed of living a simple life alongside her Mamma in their remote village in Iceland, where she prays to the Christian God aloud during the day, whispering enchantments to the old gods alone at night. But after her father dies abruptly and her Mamma becomes ill, Rósa marries herself off to a visiting trader in exchange for a dowry, despite rumors of mysterious circumstances surrounding his first wife’s death. Caroline Lea’s beautiful writing does an amazing job of creating an eerie atmosphere of isolation, unwelcomeness and suspicion that permeates the entire story. Lea’s use of islandic words and knowledge of the daily life at the time add to the immersion and are a testament to the authors research on the subject.That does not mean it isn't a good a story. Rarely have I read a book so rich in atmosphere and it is worth reading just for that. I also learned so much about Iceland. I am glad I read this. KK: It reminds me of Station Eleven and the atmospheric writing there. The world set up is done through the medium of references to Sagas and the wind and the time of day are described a lot too. It has taken some getting used to but I am enjoying it. The writing has created a sense of mystery and suspense. Utterly unputdownable. Rich in superstition and mystery, it pulled me in. An incredible novel. Ali Land It seems as it goes in circles and even if something new happens, it just adds to the annoying mystery and not progression the plot. There is also no character development besides the constant reminder that she must be obedient. I was hoping that her love for reading and writing would come through in this story, but that’s not the case. Venture to the wild, beautiful and spellbinding Orkney islands in THE METAL HEART, the compelling new story of freedom and love from Caroline Lea.

The writing was dark and lovely, and it caught the time, the place and the atmosphere wonderfully well. I thought I might be a retelling of a traditional story, and I might have been in the beginning; but in time that story was subverted quite beautifully, and I found that the truth of this story and its characters were not at all as I had expected. Tremendous. Atmospheric and beautifully wrought, The Glass Woman is both chilling and beguiling.' -Elizabeth Fremantle Utterly unputdownable. Rich in superstition and mystery, it pulled me in. An incredible novel.”— Ali Land, author of Good Me Bad Me

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Seclusion from the outside world isn’t the only troubling aspect of her new life—Rósa is also forbidden from going into Jón’s attic. When she begins to hear strange noises from upstairs, she turns to a local woman in an attempt to find solace, but the villager’s words are even more troubling. Lea crafts deeply intriguing characters while bringing to life their harsh landscape. Full of emotion, mystery, and suspense, this unique love story will keep readers guessing until the very end. Booklist I love books set in harsh bleak cold environments. This book is hauntingly atmospheric, cold and foreboding. The landscape and winter season are just as much a character in this book. Harsh, unforgiving and cold. This book felt Gothic in nature and has been compared to Jane Eyre and Rebecca. There is a dark mystery here as well as tales of longing and love. Meanwhile, she also suspects Jon over the death of his first wife Anna, who was apparently buried in secret. The mystery of what happened to Anna leaves Rosa constantly perturbed by doubt, as Jon refuses to discuss the matter and gossip reigns across the village. There is also talk of witchcraft, at a time where women being able to read and write was seen as irregular. Iceland, 1686. Betrothed unexpectedly to Jón Eiríksson, Rósa is sent to join her new husband in the remote village of Stykkishólmur. Here, the villagers are wary of outsiders.

Twisty, dark and chillingly believable. The Glass Woman is a gripping exploration of memory, loss and AI.” As soon as Rose arrives at her husband’s village, there is a constant mystery hanging in the air, be it some mysterious noise or shadows Rosa hears or sees at the hut, or other women’s unfinished sentences about her husband’s first wife or warnings about being obedient wife without any further explanation. After a while this mystery becomes annoying. The were moments of brilliance in the writing, but something was definitely missing, and I suspect that this was that I was never able to form a true connection to anyone in the story. Haunting, evocative and utterly compelling. The Glass Woman transports the reader to a time and place steeped in mystery, where nothing is ever quite as it seems. Stunning.”— Tracy Borman, author of The King’s WitchUndoubtedly the biggest strength of this book was the writing. It was incredibly descriptive and filled with tension and foreboding, and that more than compensated for the relatively slow pace. Much of it is driven by the setting, which is synonymous with the story and provides the basis for numerous metaphors and analogies that are evident right from the beginning.

As soon as it was established Anna was alive, I felt my interest wane a bit. The story then became a bit predictable and also a bit scattered, at least for me. And as much as I liked this, I felt, even in the beginning there was so much repetition to the plot, that I was not as into it as I would have liked. I was drawn in by an intriguing title, a beautiful cover, and the promise of a dark tale set in a cold country. I was caught up in the story from the beginning but in the later stages, when it reached the time when the body emerged from the icy sea and the consequences of that played out, I realised how real Rósa, the people around her and the world that they lived in had become to me. Intensely written and atmospheric, with an unusual setting, this is a stark evocation of a community where fear of the outsider is rife and unsettling.' - Daily Mail Into this epic landscape comes Rosa, who marries for practical purposes not love and who comes to believe she may be in grave danger from Husband Jon, the death of his first wife being surrounded by gossip, intrigue and dark mutterings of witchcraft..Mystery and potential danger linger throughout as the story builds to the reveal…. Lovely prose and the lulling feel of escape into another time… will satisfy readers who wish to be submerged in the ways of an old world.”— Publishers Weekly Alternating between the point of views of Rosa and Jon, the narrative switches between past and present until both storylines converge and all is finally revealed. When it is, it's a story of cruelty, forbidden love, madness born out of grief and unfulfilled desire, dark nights and even darker deeds. A gorgeous book about the power of stories that makes the landscape of Iceland as powerful a character as any of the humans.' -Sarah Shaffi, Phoenix