Always Home, Always Homesick

When Hannah Kent was seventeen she travelled to Iceland as a Rotary exchange student. She did not know the language and although there were a number of other Rotary exchange students in Iceland at the time they were in Reykjavik while Hannah was hosted in Saudarktokur in the north of the island. Arriving in mid-winter Hannah also had to acclimatise to only a few hours of sunlight during winter plus long periods of daylight during the summer.

Always Home, Always Homesick is an account of Hannah's experiences living in a land very different from home in Australia. During the twelve months she lived with three different host families, each providing different experiences. However it is with Petur and Regina and their ever-growing family that Hannah felt most at home.

While in Iceland Hannah decided that she really does want a career in writing and enrolled in a course to study creative writing when she returned to Australia. 

While in Iceland Hannah learned about the belief in local spirits and ghosts held by the locals. She learned to appreciate the traditions of the country and that she is in a special place. Then she visited the site where the last execution was held in Iceland and began to learn the story of Agnes Magnusdottir who was beheaded in 1830.

Back home, Hannah found that she could not forget the story of Agnes and was determined to find more information about the story which became the basis for her first novel - Burial Rites. 

Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent is an account of the author's visits to Iceland over the years  as well as the challenging journey of researching and writing the novel.