BOG QUEEN
The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North–a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.
“An absolute astonishment.” –Vauhini Vara, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Immortal King Rao
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.
The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North–a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.
“An absolute astonishment.” –Vauhini Vara, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Immortal King Rao
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.
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Hardcover
- October 2025
- 288 Pages
- 9781635579666
Buy the Book
$28.99
About Anna North
Anna North is the author of instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Outlawed, America Pacifica, and Lambda Literary Award winner The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. She is a senior correspondent at Vox. She lives in Brooklyn.
Praise
“To this resonant mystery, the author Anna North brings a timely exploration of power, landscape and deep time, building a mesmerising novel.” —The Observer
“An intricate work of historical fiction, a tightly woven mystery reminiscent of the police procedural Bones, and perhaps most of all, a transfixing excavation of the competing interests converging on the natural world in our present moment of ecological devastation, economic precarity, and historical forgetting . . . This expansive tale is about much more than a battle among scientists, environmentalists, and corporate interests. In confronting questions of duty, ambition, and community, North’s magical novel renders the world-both ancient and modern-mysterious to us again.” —Foreign Policy
“Piercing . . . Part of the novel’s thrill comes from the way in which North leaves the rest of the mystery for the reader to piece together . . . North reaches new heights with this brilliant novel.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A remarkably crafted tale that asks important questions about the imprint we leave on our loved ones, our culture, and our land.” —Booklist
“Bog Queen offers something for true crime fans as well as ancient history buffs . . . The mystery unfolds in two timelines, interspersing Agnes’ fascinating investigation and the environmental and ethical issues it raises with the story of the Iron Age people who once traversed the same land.” —Bookpage
Discussion Questions
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Bog Queen begins with a voice that is not human. How did you understand this voice? And how did it combine with the discovery of a body in the next scene—a trope of the murder mystery or police procedural—to set up your expectations about what was to follow?
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By trying to shield young Agnes from the truth about death, her father arguably made her more afraid. How did his intentions backfire? How did watching the house finch decompose transform Agnes’s fear into fascination and even reverence? Why did this moment become so pivotal in her life?
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What events led Agnes to take the posting in Manchester? Do you think this was a good choice for her life or a bad one? Why?
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Consider point of view in the novel. Why do you think North wrote the druid’s chapters in the first-person singular, the moss’s sections in the first-person plural, and Agnes’s chapters in the third person? How did these shifts affect your reading?
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Throughout the novel, Agnes reflects on her social awkwardness, kicking herself for, say, bringing a big bag of navel oranges to a party. Do you think the other characters also see her as socially awkward? Why or why not?
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Do you feel that Fiona, one of the self-professed “bad guys,” was sincere in her offer to help Agnes? Why or why not?
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Do we know for certain whether the druid’s brother betrayed her? In the penultimate chapter we learn that the druid’s mother had suspicions about her son, Aesu. If he did betray his sister, what drove him to make that choice?
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How does the young druid’s character grow throughout the novel? How does Agnes’s character change? How are their individual stories similar, and how are they different?
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What do you think the druid is experiencing at the end of her life when she has the thought, “Because I understood, finally, what the gods had been trying to tell me all this time”?
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Do you think Agnes and Nicolas were attracted to each other the first time they met? Why do you think they ended up in the tent together after everyone had left? What do you think brought them together at that moment?
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Self-belief or lack of confidence is a recurring theme throughout the novel. From your perspective, who are the most confident characters? Where does their confidence come from? Who are the more self-doubting characters? Did you notice your answers shifting and changing throughout the story? How so? Has your own self-confidence ebbed and flowed throughout your life?
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How do you understand Agnes’s relationship with Ruby? How do they help each other throughout the novel? What do you think Agnes does after the novel ends? What about Ruby?
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Do you agree with Comux, who says of death and the prospect of being forgotten: “No one will sing about me. What I make, fire will burn or time will wear away. When I’m gone, no praise or blame will attach to my story. To me, that’s peace. I’ve lived lightly on the earth”?