They were familiar with death, these valley people who shared blood and tradition and an understanding of a world moored in the old ways.

Living in brutal subsistence poverty, the folk shared dwellings with their livestock, whose butter and milk paid the rent, and walked barefoot in frigid mud to save their shoes.

They knew the Good People, the fairy folk, who must be appeased, staved off, and feared. They knew people who had been swept, taken by the Good People. The Good People, called thus so as not to offend them.

Set in 1826, in a small Irish village removed from the encroaching modern world, the people are steeped in their shared belief in herbal cures and potions, blessings and magical rituals.

Nora's daughter had married and gave birth to a son, a fair, normal child. Then her daughter became ill and was swept by The Good People; afterward, the grandchild became ill. A paralytic, shriveled, insensible child is left in Nora's care. When Nora's husband suddenly dies, the child becomes a burden, screaming and incontinent, unable to show love, but with insatiable need.

The doctor and priest tell Nora she must care for the cretin but offer no aid or consolation. She hires an impoverished girl, Mary, to care for the child. And asks for the help of aged Nance, a woman schooled in the ways of The Good People, an herbal healer.

Nora and Nance agree that the child is a changeling, and try charms to make the Good People reclaim their own and return Nora's true grandchild. Only Mary feels compassion for the child.

Under pressure from the priest to give up her heathen practice, Nance believes she needs to prove her skill and value; she needs a win. Nora is desperate for respite and, turning the child into an 'it', agrees to more desperate means, threatening harm to the boy in hope of forcing the Good People to take him back.

A dark and relentless book of a people crushed by poverty, clinging to inherited ways of trying to control their world, The Good People was inspired by a true story. The historical setting is vivid and engrossing. The land and the society are beautifully drawn. Kent gives Nance a true love of nature's beauty, even as she live in lonely filth and pain. We enter her mind, learn her backstory, and understand her world.

Nora's grief over her husband's death and the loss of her daughter feeds into her rejection of the child. The Christian priest admonishes Nora to "blind yourself no longer to the sin of pagan delusion." And yet she still hopes to find her grandson returned, unable to separate superstition from science. We cannot approve of Nora's wish, but we understand what brought her to the crisis.

This is not a fast reading, plot driven book, but a character study of a time and a people. There is propulsion to know how the end plays out.

I found myself reflecting on how our world paradigm limits our understanding. Conflicts worldwide are rooted in tribal or religious values coming into conflict with each other or with modern 21st c worldviews.

If a parent does not believe in vaccinations because of religion--or fake news-- and their child dies of a preventable disease, should they culpable for the child's death? Was Jim Henson's death of a preventable disease a suicide because he refused treatment based on his religion?

This past week the news reported a local doctor performed genital surgery on seven-year-old girls. We consider it mutilation. In spite of education reforms and making it illegal, the ritual persists. It is a cultural norm in African societies, including Muslim, Christian, and Ethiopian Jews. Some say the girls accept it as a part of being a woman. Today I read in the newspaper women's accounts of the horror and pain they endured.

What we believe is not rational. It has never been based on science or logic. Does it exonerate us for the harm we inflict out of our best intentions?

Hannah Kent offers us The Good People, the imagining of a historical event. May it open our eyes.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The book opens with the death of Nora's husband Martin. Nora is now left to be the sole caretaker of her grandson, a four year old that can neither talk nor walk, screams constantly at night and it hard to pacify. Grief stricken, Nora manages to convince herself that he is not her real grandson but rather a changeling, left in his place by the fairies. She will do anything to get her "real" grandson back. Nance is a healer but is also said to know the ways of the fairies.

It is 1825 in Ireland and superstition and the old ways are still prominent but the local priest is making inroads on the belief patterns of the villagers. Soon these two belief systems will clash and things will never be the same. Atmospherically dark, the subject is dark as well, Kent turns her hand to another true case in the past, and does it ably. Her descriptions, as in her first book, pulls the reader into this dark and tragic time. Grief can take many turns and in this book the one it takes is quite horrible and not easy to read. Yet, her writing and her prose is once again outstanding, though I did feel at times it was somewhat overdone. Also found it repetitive in some instances and felt at times that this hindered the storytelling and the pace.

It is, however, another unforgettable book, an impactful one, not easy to forget. The Wonder, has the same darkness and the Irish setting though not the same subject and The Stolen child, is another book that deals with changeling and fairies. If you liked either of those, one should also find much to admire in this, I did. Can't quite get it out of my head.

ARC from publisher.
Publishes in the US in September by Little, Brown.

A wonderfully atmospheric and compelling exploration of religion, folklore and superstition in an impoverished small Irish village in the early 1800s, the book is based on a real life incident, which for me made it even more intriguing. The author has done her research and manages to really penetrate into the hearts and minds of these poor, often illiterate peasant families, caught between the teachings of the Church and the old beliefs about changelings, fairies and The Good People. It’s a slow-moving tale but I found that worked well to really get inside the lives of the main characters, most of whom I found credible and convincing. This isolated community felt very authentic and my heart went out to their plight when faced with problems that seem to have no solutions or explanations. A really absorbing and thought-provoking novel.

An emotional realistic tale that is hard not to recommend

I admit I had not completely fallen in the enchanted tangle of Icelandic atmosphere and true life inspiration that bound together the 2013 historical bestseller Burial Rites. Perhaps it was just my reading tastes at the time and not to upset anyone but I found it very easy to put down. I just needed something more than the limited cold scents and bones of characters to keep me coming back and Ms. Kent’s second novel provided this wary reader with all she has been hoping for and even a few hidden tricks to delight along the way. Simply The Good People is an emotional realistic tale that is hard not to recommend to anyone who has been waiting for a good old fashioned story that is told in elegant prose with varied personalities you love to hate but oddly care about. In this yarn the reader is confronted with multiple topics but mostly grief, religion, old beliefs and what can ensue when one suspicious threat overbalances everything we think we hold dear. Like Burial Rites inspiration is taken directly from a true regional bygone crime and in The Good People harrowing events of June 1826 in rural Ireland are spread out in fiction with liberal drams of herb lore, powerful Irish superstition, proverbs and dangers of kin suspicions.

For this reader, there were a few negatives mostly the stiff and awkward presented dialogue, periodic measured pace and the ending felt incomplete. Usually those disappointing points would have me rating a novel lower but The Good People had one or two tricks waiting cleverly in plain sight and I couldn’t help but raise my overall final impression when I encountered memories of reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond for the first time as Nance and Mary made their initial appearances. I also enjoyed discovering the potential of endless discussions this novel could provide and my fellow nurses have already debated long into the night over this story. This type of novel is not for everyone there are some very disturbing scenes that can overstep boundaries of comfort but it is well worth reading and if you are like me and the book description is calling to you with possibilities- you may find yourself in another place and time on the first page and by the final swept by The Good People.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read and enjoy The Good People

The Good People, is not your typical "Fairy Tale", but a fairy tale it is indeed.

A magical story of Irish Folklore set in the background of the modern 1820 Ireland. A time when the world was changing, Christianity set against Paganism. "Learned " people set against the "ignorant" people.
3 outcast women set together in the midst of heartache with one common goal: To cure an ailing child. But with a new Priest preaching against the beliefs of the old world, what cost will these woman pay for the sake of their beliefs.
This story makes the reader come face to face with their own beliefs, makes them answer the question:
"''Twas it the "Fairy" people?" " or " Was it the will of God?"

I very much enjoyed this book, I devoured it in one sitting. I recommend this book to people who love the mystical, mysterious & not so merry, fairy tale.

Fear and superstition take center stage in this novel of 19th century Ireland. After losing her husband, a heartbroken Nora begins caring for her grandson Michael, who was always a happy and healthy child. But since the death of both his mother and grandfather, the boy will not speak or even walk. Nora is joined by serving girl Mary as they try to help Michael and deflect the growing tide of rumor that casts Micheal as a changeling, guilty of causing death and misfortune. In desperation, Nora turns to elderly Nance, a woman once known as a healer to ask her to banish the “evil” in Michael. In a fight against the Church, prejudice and ignorance, three women battle for the life and soul of a child. Kent does for rural Ireland what she did for Iceland in Burial Rites in this stark and mesmerizing story