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Always Home, Always Homesick

A Love Letter to Iceland

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About this listen

This audiobook is read by the author, Hannah Kent.

'Immediate, intimate and never less than captivating' - Guardian

From the bestselling author of Burial Rites comes an inspirational memoir about her travels in Iceland, an extraordinary country that has forged a nation of storytellers.

When she was seventeen years old, Hannah Kent travelled to Iceland from Australia. She’d never seen snow before, didn’t speak a word of Icelandic. All she knew was that she wanted to have an experience – to soak up something of the world.

Soon she found herself isolated in a remote part of Iceland in a dark winter. It was a gruelling experience, but she quickly fell in love with the country: with its brutally beautiful landscapes and with its people. On returning home, with images of Iceland's towering glaciers and windswept tundras in her dreams, Hannah began to write.

Now, as a mother and a wife, she looks back to that extraordinary year in Iceland.

Praise for Burial Rites:

‘Outstanding’ – Madeline Miller
‘Gripping, intriguing and unique’ – Kate Mosse
‘One of the best Scandinavian crime novels I’ve read’ – Independent
‘Remarkable’ – The Sunday Times
‘A must-read’ – Grazia

 Art & Literature Authors Europe Women Polar Region

Critic reviews

Iceland feels personified in this memoir . . . immediate, intimate and never less than captivating . . . [a] behind-the-scenes view of the artist at work. . . . an absorbing memoir that will appeal to existing readers of Kent’s work, and will undoubtedly see new ones seek out her earlier writing in all its mystery and glory
A lovely memoir about the curious path she took to becoming a writer . . . [a] tender account of how Iceland captivated her and forged her literary career
This memoir of Kent’s visit to Iceland as a teen details the source of her connection and her relationship with a country that now fetes her . . . Basking in the Northern Lights, she wonders if she can fit light on to paper
Kent has drawn on her talent for lyrical language and a box full of diaries, notebooks and correspondence to create evocative descriptions of Iceland. She immerses readers in the culture
[Hannah Kent] still hears from Icelanders who share stories they think might inspire her . . . which makes [her] wonder: what would have happened if she'd been sent on exchange somewhere else?
[Always Home, Always Homesick] is at least as lovely as Burial Rites, and maybe more gorgeous still, for it features Kent not as she is now - wife, mother, celebrated writer - but as a shy schoolgirl who wanted nothing so much as to know the world, and maybe one day write about it
[A] gripping memoir . . . lyrically written . . . riveting (The Sunday Times)
All stars
Most relevant
For readers of Burial Rites this memoir is not to be missed. A great story and very happy as well as interesting

Fantastic narration,

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I love Hanna's work. Burial Rites was harrowing so I am glad that there is some closure to be had in this book.
The first third is about a lonely 16 year old exchanges student billeted with the coldest people I have ever been shown outside of a Dickensian style novel.. Why did they bother to volunteer to meet her at the airport or host her in their own homes?
Once past that rude introduction, I was interested, then charmed and the finale, the work of the medium, the efforts of Icelanders to get things right and recognise the trauma Agnes suffered was comforting.
I would love to visit Iceland to see those horses and to be where Agnes once was, even if just to wonder at the strange. traumatised people who walk there now.

Closure

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