INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date : October 2025
Format: Hardcover, audiobook, and ebook
Print length : 288 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “A THOUSAND RECIPES FOR REVENGE”
I got the book from Libby, and after starting it, I was not able to finish it within the 14 days, so I waited and borrowed it again, and was able to finish the book within 2 days. It is a short book, and the chapters are short. The story is fast-paced, intriguing, and beautifully written.
The story goes back and forth from 2018, when the body of an Iron Age young woman was discovered within the bog extremely well preserved, and the ancient times when the young Celtic druid woman lived. Both storylines are touching, and although different in my opinion, both women try to find their place in their time.
Agnes, a pathologist and archaeologist who has chosen to move far away from her dad and ex-boyfriend and explore what her place in the world is, is eager to put into practice all the studies she has done. And the young Celtic druid, who undertakes her new role with her community, while trying her best to trust her ancestry and knowledge.
Both story lines are sad, but full of courage. As both women come to terms with the realities that society is imposing on them and the choices that they have, we move through their lives with both sadness and hope.
PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:
When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she’s ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.
Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there’s the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.
As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she’s also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine
MY RATING: 4.0
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna North is the author of four novels: Bog Queen (2025), Outlawed (a New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club Pick), America Pacifica and The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. Anna North is also a senior correspondent at Vox, where she covers American family life, reproductive health, and education. Previously, she was a writer and editor at the New York Times, Salon, BuzzFeed and Jezebel. Anna North graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2009,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Outlawed: a Novel
- The Life and Death of Sophie Stark: a novel
- America Pacifica: a novel
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