Devotion

by Hannah Kent

Prussia, 1836. Hanne is nearly fifteen and the domestic world of womanhood is quickly closing in on her. A child of nature, she yearns instead for the rush of the river, the wind dancing around her. Hanne finds little comfort in the local girls and friendship doesn't come easily, until she meets Thea and she finds in her a kindred spirit and finally, acceptance.

Hanne's family are Old Lutherans, and in her small village hushed worship is done secretly - this is a community under threat. But when they are granted safe passage to Australia, the community rejoices: at last a place they can pray without fear, a permanent home. Freedom.

It's a promise of freedom that will have devastating consequences for Hanne and Thea, but, on that long and brutal journey, their bond proves too strong for even nature to break...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Lesbian, Queer, Australia

432 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2021

About the author

Hannah Kent's first novel, the international bestseller, Burial Rites (2013), was translated into 30 languages and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award. It won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year and the Victorian Premier's People's Choice Award, and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Hannah's second novel, The Good People was published in 2016 (ANZ) and 2017 (Feb, UK; Sept, North America). It was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year. It has been translated into 10 languages.

Hannah’s original feature film, Run Rabbit Run, will be directed by Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale) and produced by Carver and XYZ Films. It was launched at the Cannes 2020 virtual market where STX Entertainment took world rights.

Hannah co-founded the Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings, and is a Patron for World Vision Australia. She has written for The New York Times, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Meanjin, Qantas Magazine and LitHub.

Hannah lives and works on Peramangk country near Adelaide, Australia.

Reviews

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love HK, but i have conflicting feelings about this one...

as always, the writing is quite lovely. its very atmospheric, which i have enjoyed about her books in the past. it definitely creates a vehicle for the reader to immerse themselves in a historical setting. which is exactly why i loved the first half of the book.

the second half… the plot and storyline went in a direction im not personally a fan of. i just really struggle with the magical realism genre. and this story went into a whole realm of mysticism that i didnt enjoy. i think people who are really connected to nature and magic will enjoy this, but i lost interest in the story over time.

so some wins, some losses for me with this one. HK sure does know how to tell a story, but this particular narrative just wasnt for me.

↠ 3 stars

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure I have the words to properly review this book. It’s not often I am brought to tears by a book but this… this was so achingly beautiful. It was mesmerising. Hannah Kent’s writing is so lyrical it is almost poetry. It is visceral and full of feeling and - I just don’t have the words.

Hanne (Johanne Nussbaum) is an almost 15 year old girl on the cusp of womanhood in a ‘old’ Lutheran community in 1836 in Prussia. The king has outlawed ‘old’ Lutheranism in an attempt to standardise the Protestant religions. A few of the communities are hoping to leave for the new world so they can worship as they wish and in peace. But Hanne is a child of nature, she has ways of seeing things and hearing the trees speak that is considered a little strange. She no real friends until she meets a kindred spirit Thea (Dorothea Eichenwald) from a family of newcomers and learns what it is to love. The two girls become inseparable.

Soon enough permission is granted for the villagers to leave Prussia and transport is arranged on a ship to South Australia. The journey is to take 6 months and it is a trial of endurance. The cramped quarters, the lack of ventilation, the smells of the night soil buckets, the smells of unwashed bodies, the smells of vomit from seasickness and the poor food all take their toll on the pilgrims and not all of them survive the voyage. Yet when Hanne is on the deck, the ship a lone speck in a vast ocean of blue, the wind in her hair, the breaching of whales and the whale song, the majesty of an albatross in flight she is at peace with the world and hears its songs.

The arrival in South Australia is also not quite what the pilgrims expected but one thing they are used to is hard work and they soon set about taming the land. Hanne finds a more vibrant song within the folds of this most ancient of lands and she revels in it. But, but there is tragedy too.

There’s not much more I want to say. It was a slow and quiet book that just oozed beauty. The settlement is based on the real life settlement of Hahndorf in the Barossa Valley by German people. And the voyage is based on a real voyage. I had previously read Kent’s book Burial Rites which was also totally amazing. She weaves a spell binding story with very real characters into a historical fiction book based on real events. And she does this in a totally awesome way. My only comment would be that I thought it was a little bit long in the second half so I am giving it 4.5 stars rounded down.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

[Beata · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third book by Ms Kent and she delivered again.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devotion opens in a village in Prussia in 1883, where fellow members of the Old Lutheran church have collected together in order to worship secretly in a country where their religion has been banned. When they are given the opportunity to emigrate to Australia many of the families pack their meagre possessions and leave.

The ship they board is heavily overloaded and the cramped conditions in which they spend the next six months are described perfectly. The author has researched an actual voyage and delivers real facts in her usual beautiful prose. This section of the book is fascinating.

The story follows teenage Hanne and her close friend Thea and revolves around their relationship and love. During the course of the voyage they manage to spend a lot of time together but it is apparent even to them that their love does not have a future in their world. I began to wonder how the author was going to deal with this but she makes a very bold move which I did not see coming.

At this point the whole tone of the book changes and it will depend on each reader's personal preferences whether they enjoy it or not. Suffice it to say that there is a satisfying conclusion to this intriguing and memorable story

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifteen year old Hanne lives with her parents and brother Matthias in a small village in Prussia in 1836. Their old Lutheran religion has been banned by the King in an attempt to unify the protestant churches, but they continue to worship in secret. Hanne is a girl who loves nothing better than being surrounded by nature, a plain looking girl with no real friends, she has trouble looking forward to the future of marriage and children that her community expects of all its young girls. However, when a new family moves to the village, Hanne is immediately drawn to their daughter Thea and a deep friendship and love develops between them.

In 1838, the Lutherans are given permission to emigrate to South Australia where they will be free to worship as they please. They embark on the long journey to Hamburg where they board a ship to take them to their new home. Their journey on board the Kristi is based on the real voyage of the Zebra (under the command of Captain Hahn who helped them buy land in the Barossa and for whom Hahndorf was named). With 199 people on board the ship and only 80 berths, the ship was horribly overcrowded and soon typhus became rampant, killing some on board. It’s at this point in the novel that the story takes an unexpected turn that will affect both Hanne and Thea’s future in the new colony.

I really enjoy historical fiction based on real events, especially when I learn something new and especially when the author has done their research as meticulously as Hannah Kent. Her descriptions of the hardships these people took in their journey are vividly recreated with a real sense of time and place, from the suppression of their religion in Prussia to their six-month nightmare journey in a cramped, airless ship to their indomitable spirit in building a new life from the ground up in a strange country on the other side of the world. Kent’s writing is always beautiful with a poetic feel to it, particularly when she is describing the natural world that Hanne connects with so readily. Hanne’s love for Thea is at the heart of the novel, but also her love for her family and her community. Overall, a powerful and moving novel that will continue to resonate with me for some time. 4.5★

With many thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia and Netgalley for a copy to read

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extraordinary. I now understand how important it is for me to trust an author. I am generally uncomfortable with magical realism and usually avoid books in which it plays a part. I knew nothing about this book before I read it however, other than it was written by Hannah Kent, both of whose previous novels, Burial Rites and The Good People, I loved. When this book’s storyline developed into magical realism therefore, I trusted Hannah Kent to take me with her on the journey and oh! What a journey it is!

The basis is the true story of the emigration of Prussian Lutherans to Australia to escape oppression in their homeland. In 1838, a group of around 100 Lutherans sailed for South Australia from Hamburg on the Kristi. They were ‘Old Lutherans’, those who rejected the Prussian King’s Reformed church and who were being penalised for continuing to worship in their own way. They left their villages in what is now Poland but was then Germany on a three week journey by road and canal to Hamburg. They were financed by a wealthy Scottish businessman, George Fife Angas, who was also Chair of the South Australian Company. A deeply religious man himself, he was impressed by these self sufficient people, mainly farmers, who were reputedly hard working and had high moral standards. He was sure that they would be assets in the development of South Australia so he gave them a good land deal and did everything he could to facilitate their journey.

Kent always champions the outsider. In this book, even though the Lutherans were being persecuted themselves for being different, they in turn treated a newly arrived family of Wends (Slavic background but same faith) as outsiders. Because Anna Maria is known to use herbs to heal, it is rumoured that she is a witch. Many shun her, her husband and their daughter, others go to her for healing and advice. The other outsiders are the native Australians towards whom the Lutherans were hostile, despite them helping the new immigrants to identify food to eat and water sources. They in turn would see the Lutherans as the outsiders. This theme aside, this is essentially a love story that begins when Thea, Anna Maria’s daughter, meets Hanne and their friendship blossoms into something much, much deeper.

I can’t emphasise strongly enough how beautiful the writing is. It’s impossible to choose just one passage as an example because the whole book sings with wonderful prose. I can’t imagine that Kent can write another book that I will enjoy as much as this but I am willing to trust that she will. I also trust that it will be as well researched as all of her books have been.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan McMillan for a review copy.

[Cazbookmagnet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish. Beautiful writing, great story and characters, totally absorbed and then the writer decided to do something incredibly disappointing, I’m sure it will win literary awards for that decision but I found it ridiculous. I don’t want to spoil it for others so I can’t explain what it was. Almost threw the book across the room I was so angry. Flicked further ahead to make sure I was wrong which I never do, nope.

[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4★
“Why do men bother with churches at all when instead they might make cathedrals out of sky and water? Better a chorus of birds than a choir. Better an altar of leaves. Baptise me in rainfall and crown me with sunrise. If I am still, somehow, God’s child, let me find grace in the mysteries of bat-shriek and honeycomb.”

Hanne is a teenaged girl from a devout Lutheran family in 19th century Prussia. Her father is a fairly strict elder, her mother is beautiful and loving, but she’s undemonstrative – not a cuddly, hugging sort of mother. Hanne is tall and coltish, with long legs that occasionally stumble.

“Here she is, the cuckoo born to a songbird. The odd, unbeautiful daughter.”

Her twin brother, Matthias, is her closest friend and ally. They used to curl up together as babies and youngsters, but now that they’re in their teens, Matthias sleeps up in the loft, and Hanne is forbidden to join him, although she doesn’t really understand why. They have been a part of each other for so long, that she feels the loss badly.

She doesn’t seem to fret that she has no girlfriends because she has always had Matthias, but now she relies more than ever on the companionship of her beloved forest with all of its sounds and music. She hears the melody and hums and whispers of life everywhere. Her mother does understand this and sometimes sends her to pick mushrooms, knowing that it is a happy respite for Hanne from women’s work at home.

“I was forever nature’s child. It is probably best to say this now. I sought out solitude. Happiness was playing in the whir of grass at the uncultivated edges of our village, listening to the ticking of insects, or plunging my feet into fresh snow until my stockings grew wet and my toes numb.”

A new family moves to the village from a different area. The mother is a Wend, from a Slavic community, and rumour has it she is a ‘Hexe’, a witch. But the father is German, and they have moved to the village to escape religious persecution just as the Lutherans did, so Hanne’s family is prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Their daughter, Thea, is Hanne’s age, but Hanne isn’t interested in meeting more people. She prefers to be alone in the forest, listening to the magic there.

“Suddenly I heard stick-break, the cracking of wood, and someone appeared out of the fog.

She was an apparition walking between hazy columns of trees, her outline growing clearer as she walked. It seemed, for one small moment, that we were underwater. I saw her breath stream as she heaved a crooked weight of kindling; I saw her through the cloud of my own breath and held it, the better to see her.

She looked up and, seeing me watching her, stopped.

I exhaled.

The air hung with water. Held its own breath as we regarded one another.

The girl freed a hand from her bundle of sticks. I watched as she raised it, uncertain, then lifted my own palm.

‘I thought you were a ghost,’ she said. Her voice was low. Unsteady.

‘I thought you were too.’

‘You scared me.’ She hoisted the bundle of kindling onto her hip and approached me through the fog. ‘I’m Thea.’

I remembered myself. ‘Hanne.’

The mist between us thinned as she drew closer. Her face was round, smooth-cheeked, and I saw that her hair was white-blonde, her eyebrows fairer than her skin. It looked, not unpleasantly, as though she had been dusted with flour.

Against the silence of the forest, her footsteps upon the twigs and needles sounded impossibly loud.

‘You’re not, then?’ She continued walking until she was standing an arm’s length away. I could see that her eyelashes were translucent, surrounding eyes that were deeply blue. Fathomless blue, winter’s blue.

‘What?’ Water dripped from the tree above me and fell inside my collar. Trickled down my back.

She smiled. ‘A ghost.’

I noticed then that, while her front teeth were small and neat, those next to them stuck out at an angle. It gave her a hungry, slightly wolfish look.

‘No. I don’t think so. Unless I died in my sleep.’

‘Maybe both of us died in our sleep, and here we are, two ghosts. Telling each other we’re alive.’

I laughed. For a moment I wondered if there could be truth in what she said. The mist had thickened, and with her white hair it looked as though she might suddenly be absorbed into the cloud about us.”

I liked the quick rapport between the two young outsiders, and they do become great friends. Hanne begins spending a lot of time with Thea’s family and comes to understand Thea’s mother’s special skills as a midwife and herbalist.

When the villagers learn that they are no longer safe in this village, they arrange passage on a ship to create a new settlement in Australia. Hanne is stunned when they sail out of the rivers and into the vastness of the open sea.

“The good Lord knows, if I could live any moment of my life over again, it would be that one. Ribs divided, heart devouring the knife-edge of beauty. To see the ocean for the first time, every time. Her hand in mine.

Holy blade that guts us with awe.”

The six-month voyage is horrific. Quarters are cramped, much of the food has gone off, and the water has spoiled. By the time they arrive, their numbers have dwindled due to typhus and other diseases, with bodies buried at sea or onshore, if they were near land.

The girls were separated at the beginning of the trip, as Hanne had to bunk with her mother and baby sister in the family quarters, and Thea was put in the bow of the ship with the single women. Later. as sickness spread, Hanne was moved to the bow as well, and the two proclaimed their devotion to each other.

The writing is exceptional. Here is one descriptions of how Hanne feels when she is at one with a tree or a plant.

“One day I stood beside a banksia loud with honeyeaters and nectar. The music lifting from the tree was so joyful, I joined my voice to its singing, and as I sang, I thought of Thea. I yearned for her and I yearned to be absorbed by the banksia, and in the rising key of all the strains of growth, I felt the banksia admit me and we were together. We knew what it was to bud and blossom and eat the light. I felt the birds upon me like a visitation from God. That is how it happened.”

The author has written the story around comprehensive research of the journey of these European settlers who were fleeing religious persecution, just as the English pilgrims sought freedom in America. The local Peramangk people are credited with saving these uninvited, ill-equipped foreigners from starving, although the immigrants later chased them away from the livestock and gardens they established on Peramangk land. I'm sure the fact that South Australia was settled by free settlers, not convicts as the other states were, wouldn't have made the local indigenous people any happier.

But mainly, this is a love story, with passions running high and overshadowing everything else. These are girls in their teens. There is no question that it is praiseworthy for the writing alone, and I enjoyed the history. I did become impatient with Hanne’s continuous, overflowing of declarations of love. For me, this is a case of sometimes less is more. (I know, I know, this review is long, but almost half of it is Kent’s glorious prose!)

I enjoyed her debut, Burial Rites, about an historic trial in Iceland, and her second book, The Good People, about Ireland and its dangerous wee folk. It was a nice change to see her turn her talent to where she grew up herself.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan McMillan Picador Australia for the copy for review.

P.S. My review of Burial Rites:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review 0f The Good People:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Emily Coffee and Commentary · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtePgVxLb...

Devotion, aptly named, is a testament to the power of love and loyalty between two souls. It is a song in honor of love, in its all-consuming force, its haunting strength, its formless wonder. Gorgeously written, this flows with emotions that dwell in the very core of our hearts. This novel spoke to the side of me that is deeply sentimental and romantic. May we all have a love that lives beyond what we know to be possible.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical fiction published 2021.

A sadly disappointing 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

This is my third book by Hannah Kent my first two were a 5 star ‘Burial Rites’ and a 4 star ‘The Good People’. So as you can see the stars have been on the decline.

With each of the book there has been a recurring theme. That of strong, independent women who for what ever reason become alienated, by varying degrees, by their communities.
Their lives are for ever uphill battles to find a place of acceptance within their communities.

There’s no denying that Hannah Kent is a skilled wordsmith. As with her other books this one is beautifully written and is a joy to read for that quality alone.

Two happenings are taking place here.
One is the migration in the early 1800’s of German Lutherans to the lands of South Australia where they hope to find security and freedom to worship their version of Christianity unmolested.
Kent chronicles the horrendous conditions these people had to endure on board ship for six months. A lot would not get to see the shores of South Australia and for those that did they would soon realise that life in the New World was going to be no easy matter.

The second part is a love story that transcends the recognised conventions.
It was this part of the book that, no matter how hard I tried, I just could not swallow it, whole or in small bits.
Hanne Nussbaum the main protagonist and the other half of the love story was by any definition obsessed an obsession that drove her to perform the incomprehensible.
I’m normally pretty much in touch with my feminine side but this was just a bridge too far.

3.5 stars is still a better than average read for me and I can see from other reviewers that the problems I outlined they had no problems with. So there’s a good chance that this could hit that sweet spot for other readers.

[Patricija || book.duo · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

Hannah Kent bando amžiams įsirašyti į literatūros istoriją, tapdama ne vienos knygos stebuklu, o su kiekvienu kūriniu pasiūlydama kažką naujo ir netikėto. Ir jeigu pirmosios dvi knygos gali šokiruoti tema, šioji prie ryškių veikėjų, negirdėto siužeto ir stiprios kolonijizmo problematikos prijungia dar ir tokį siužetinį sprendimą, kuris abejingų palikti negali – tiesiog todėl, kad apie jį neįmanoma neturėti stiprios, ryškios nuomonės. Jau žinodama, kad „Atsidavimas“ iš manęs pareikalaus atsidavimo, pasileidau plaukti be išankstinių nuostatų, absoliučiai, aklai pasitikėdama savo kapitone Kent. Liūliavo ji mane ne tik nuostabia kalba (belieka lenktis, kaip dažnai darau, Gabrielei Gailiūtei Bernotienei, kuri su Kent kalbasi tiesiog magiškai), bet ir veikėjais, kurie man savo gyvenimo būdu ir tikėjimo stiprumu priminė „Seserų varpus“.

Ir tikrai ne vien siužetiniai posūkiai čia reikalauja pasitikėjimo autore – tiek pat, jei ne daugiau, reikalauja ir tema, joje žaidžiantys likimai. Aklas (visomis prasmėmis) tikėjimas, gebėjimas dėl jo paaukoti ir mesti viską, kas brangiausia – ne tik materialiai, bet ir gyvenimiškai svarbiai, iš skaitytojo reikalauja nepaprastai daug. Bent jau iš tokio skaitytojo kaip aš. Ir visgi, koja kojon eina tokia ryški LGBTQ+ istorija, pergalvojanti bet kokias žanro ribas (neduok die, LGBTQ+ gyvenimų nevadinu „žanru“), kad skaitant sunku kvėpuoti, sunku nepasinerti. Žinoma, sunku Kent nelyginti ir su savimi pačia. Viena vertus, siužetiškai, grynai istorijos prasme, knyga man nepasirodė esanti stipresnė už „Geruosius žmones“. Visgi, emocinis užtaisas, kurį savyje neša „Atsidavimas“, tiesiog pavergia, nokautuoja ir tikrai primena jūrligę – tave valdo kažkas didesnis nei tu pats. Kent talentas? Pati meilė, kuri čia yra visa ko ašis, prasmė ir esmė? Magiškai praleidau laiką ir su Kent leisčiausi į bet kokią kelionę, kurią ji suplanuotų.

[Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nežinau kaip jums papasakoti apie šito teksto grožį.
Ir nežinau, koks gylis būtų įšokus į Kent širdį, nes šitaip rašyti…o dievai…
Atrodo, kad skaityti ją yra lygu žiūrėti į snaigę be macro objektyvo.
Girdėti medžius dygstant.
Verkti vandenynu.
Pabučiavus mylimą, palikti jam kriauklę burnoje iš to paties vandenyno dugno.
Atrodo, kad Kent skaitosi tik pasistiebus ant pirštų galiukų.
Ir iš meilės širdis stoja.
Kvapą gniaužiantis “Atsidavimas”.
Hannah Kent meilės odė žmonai.
Vienas iš mano metų wow.
P.S. Kas nors perduokit vertėjai Gabrielei Gailiūtei Bernotienei, kad aš jai altorių pastatysiu.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★s

Hanne Nussbaum loved nature more than she loved her fellow humans. Of course she loved her mother and father, her brother Matthias but she felt awkward around others, as if she wasn’t good enough for them. Hanne was never happier than when she was in the forest. Until she met Thea and had a friend at last. Thea’s parents had recently arrived to the Prussian village of Kay in 1836, and Thea’s mother was a healer. But when the whole village, most of whom were Lutheran worshippers which was banned, were offered the chance to emigrate to South Australia, the excitement of being free at last to worship as they wished was wonderful.

The long journey to Hamburg where they would embark took its toll, then the six month ocean voyage took a further toll. A small ship, not large enough to cater to the 200 souls who were on board, it wasn’t long before passengers began to die, and typhus raged through the berths. The conditions were appalling. Would their new start in the colony in South Australia be worth the challenges they faced?

Devotion by Aussie author Hannah Kent is one I was looking forward to, but I found myself overwhelmed at ‘everything’ that was included in this beautifully written book. I feel Devotion would be classified as Literary Fiction (of which I'm not fond), as well as Historical. The descriptions of Hanne and her family’s hardship on the ship, the beauty of her love of nature with the music from the trees and river, Hanne’s familial love for Matthias and much more, made for a special read, but for me, a difficult one.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

[Bianca thinksGRsucksnow · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
Grrr I spent 14 hrs listening to this novel. I am kind of mad with myself for sticking with it when I never enjoyed it - I just didn't want to have an opinion about it without having read it.
I should have trusted my instincts ... I just got swayed by many readers' raving reviews. It also seems to be garnering "best book" awards as well.

This was a historical novel set in 1800 Prussia, the main characters are from a protestant sect that is ostracised. I am generally not a historical fiction fan. The "forbidden love" between two teenage girls should have been more to my liking but I really didn't care. If anything, it felt overdone, obsessive and over-the-top. The novel's second part goes off the wall, not in a good way.

Devotion - it should have really been Obsession - was overwritten and gimmicky, especially the last half.

Hannah Kent is definitely not for me, now I'm 100% certain.

[Stratos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Τρία βιβλία και τα τρία εξαίρετα. Για μένα και τα τρία αριστουργήματα γιατί μέσα από δύσκολες ιστορίες σε βυθίζουν σε μια ηδονική απόλαυση ανάγνωσης. Εχω απολαύσει και τα τρία της βιβλία και δεν ξέρω ποιο είναι καλύτερο από το άλλο. Ένα είναι το σίγουρο. Παρότι νεαρή η συγγραφέας εντάσσεται πλέον άξια στους μεγάλους σύγχρονους συγγραφείς που συνιστώ σε όσους δεν έχουν διαβάσει βιβλία της, να το κάνουν.

[fatma · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beating heart of a novel. absolutely arresting in its beauty, everything in it so very vital, keenly and viscerally felt. and hannah kent's words are pure poetry; her writing exists on another plane entirely. the world she is able to conjure up here feels so capacious: seeds and trees and forests, lakes and oceans, birds and whales, time and life and love and song. everything in this novel just hums. it's a novel that struck such a deep chord with me, and i loved it so very much.

[Kylie H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure where to start in reviewing this book, for me it felt too much. There was too much passion, sadness, heartbreak, hope and love packed into this book.
It starts in the early 1800's in Prussia. Hanne is. a teenager who lives in a small lutheran community where she is friendless and feels unwanted by her community and family. She is different in that she can hear trees and other music in nature. When Thea, the daughter of a rumoured 'witch' moves with her family to the village, Hanne finally feels like she has found her soul mate.
Soon after this, the community is funded to make the move to Australia to establish a new lutheran community. The six months on the ship out to Australia is gruelling and an event occurs that provides a real twist in the story. After this event I cannot say I enjoyed the book nearly as much, as it took on a more supernatural tone.
I think I will be in the minority with my opinion on this as the book is very beautifully written and certain characters struck a chord with me.
Thank you Pan McMillan Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Libros Prestados · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho, porque es un libro de Hannah Kent y Hannah Kent tiene un don para crear personajes cercanos que te tocan la patatita, PERO es un libro triste. La gente que dice que este libro no es tan triste como otros de la autora está mintiendo. Porque es tristísimo, por supuesto que sí, esta mujer no puede escribir comedias.

Por otra parte, tiene un giro hacia la mitad del libro que puede alienar a parte de los lectores. No digo a todo el mundo, pero a mucha gente no le va a gustar.

Como de costumbre, Hanna Kent utiliza unos hechos históricos reales, en este caso la emigración desde Alemania a Australia en el siglo XIX, para contarnos la historia de personajes que no encajan del todo en su mundo y a la que le pasan cosas. Cosas tristes. Porque de nuevo, la comedia no es el fuerte de esta mujer.

¿Queréis dramón? Este es vuestro libro. ¿Queréis una historia reconfortante con unicornios y arcoírises? Alejaos de esta novela. Porque no es una historia alegre. Y no es menos triste que el resto de los de la autora. No sé qué drogas toma la gente. Para empezar la propia Hannah Kent, que si esto le parece menos deprimente, igual debería empezar a hacérselo mirar.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aussie author Hannah Kent writes historical literary fiction and Devotion is her third novel. As is typical of Kent’s narrative style, her writing is lyrical and she captures the time period luminously. Set in the 1830s, initially in Prussia, then the Adelaide hills, it recounts the friendship between two young Lutheran women. One of whom is unusual in that she hears nature sing to her and has difficulty fitting in the tight religious community that is now outlawed. At its heart is a survival story, an exploration of place as spirituality and awakening of sexuality, love and the debt owed to first nation peoples. This story is deliberately more personal and reflective for Hannah, and only loosely based on history. It is truly an ode to love. So, whilst another masterpiece of a saga encapsulating the power of love despite barriers, this is a five-star read rating that will linger in your thoughts.

[Vasileios · Rating 5 out of 5]

Τι τις θέλουν τις εκκλησίες οι άνθρωποι; αναρωτιέμαι. Τι τις χρειάζονται, όταν μπορούν να έχουν καθεδρικούς ναούς από ουρανό και νερό; Χίλιες φορές καλύτερη μια χορωδία πουλιών. Ένα ιερό από φύλλα. Να με βαφτίζει η βροχή, να με ευλογεί το φως του ήλιου. Αν είμαι ακόμα παιδί του Θεού, να βρίσκω τη χάρη του μυστηρίου του στην στριγκλιά της νυχτερίδας και στην κερήθρα της μέλισσας.

[John Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a most interesting read. I had previously read Burial Rites, Ms Kent's first novel, also based on a true story from the early 1800's. This time based in Prussia and South Australia and the traumatic sea journey over 6 month of a persecuted Lutheran community to a real present day town in South Australia.

Once again, as her previous description of life in Iceland, Ms Kent portrays a real people and place. I found her description of Prussia somewhat basic, but the difficult sea journey and the arrival and settlement in South Australia were far more fleshed out.

Our narrator Hanne and describes the place and people well, including her family and the family of Thea, eventually the love of her life. There is a significant change in the second half of the book which was both surprising and made for an interesting take of all that occurred.

The writing was once again supurb, more magic than her first, but it mostly worked for me.

[Έλσα · Rating 4 out of 5]

Είχα δηλώσει πως είχα ερωτευτεί τη γραφή της Kent στα δύο προηγούμενα βιβλία της. Ακόμα κ τώρα δεν έχουν «ξεφτίσει» τα συναισθήματα που μου προκάλεσε το « έθιμα ταφής». Συγκλονιστικό βιβλίο! Οποιος δεν το έχει διαβάσει, του φωνάζω να το κάνει άμεσα 😛. «Οι καλοί» από την άλλη ήταν μια γλυκόπικρη ιστορία που επίσης απόλαυσα.

Πάμε τώρα εδώ! Είχα επηρεαστεί πολύ από τα χλιαρά- αρνητικά σχόλια πολλών αναγνωστών. Η αλήθεια είναι πως ρίχνω μια ματιά στις κριτικές προτού αγοράσω ένα βιβλίο. Δεν είναι όμως, ανασταλτικός παράγοντας τα αρνητικά σχόλια αν θέλω απεγνωσμένα ένα βιβλίο. Έτσι κ έγινε με τη «λατρεία». Το πήρα την πρώτη μέρα κυκλοφορίας κ παρ’ όλα αυτά το άφηνα στο ράφι έχοντας το φόβο της απογοήτευσης!

Αποφάσισα λοιπόν, να το ξεκινήσω! Όπως το περίμενα! Σαγηνευτική η γραφή της συγγραφέως, ονειρεμένη, παραμυθένια. Αρκετά περιγραφική, με πολλές εικόνες! Διχάστηκα σε κάποια σημεία, οφείλω να ομολογήσω. Εκεί που έλεγα, «αχ δε θα μου αρέσει», μετά από λίγες σελίδες πάλι κολλούσα.

Νομίζω πως το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο ο αναγνώστης ή θα το αγαπήσει ή το θα το βρει βαρετό κ θα το μισήσει!

Εγώ αφού το έκλεισα δηλώνω ακόμα εξαρτημένη από τη γραφή της!

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started Devotion and immediately was swept up in the beautiful writing. Hannah Kent is an amazing author with ethereal and otherworldly qualities to her writing. The story is unlike anything I’ve read so far so for that I’m grateful for, in both her books I’ve read Hannah Kent introduces me to worlds I’m unfamiliar with, it’s also an interesting history lesson, amongst the lessons is her trademark connection to the spiritual world, her deep connection to the subject she writes about and the beauty in her words when describing the nature around her. I was initially fully invested in the story during the first and middle parts but the ending dragged on for me, and I was relieved when it finally ended, although the story didn’t exactly go where I thought it was going which genuinely took me by surprise, I think it took a turn into a direction that didn’t quite gel with me, unfortunately as beautiful as her writing is her style perhaps is a little to airy fairy for my tastes so this book is for anyone who appreciates the spiritual side of things.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah Kent's eagerly awaited third novel was a difficult one for me to rate. My reading experience, out of 5, was something like 4-6!-3-5, so now that I've sat with it for a few days I think a solid 4/5 is a good reflection of how I feel about it. It has everything I've come to know and love about Kent's storytelling, plus a little something extra and unexpected.

At face value, the story is irresistibly promising; a small Prussian village of Old Lutherans who have to practice their religion in secret, have the chance to settle in the emerging colony of South Australia, where they will be free to worship without fear of persecution. It delivers on that promise with a lengthy and difficult sea-voyage (based on the historic voyage of the Zebra in 1838), followed by the establishment of a new German-speaking settlement at Heiligendorf in the Adelaide Hills (inspired by the settlement of villages like Hahndorf in that area). Characterwise, we get a main family that includes twins, an outsider who joins the close-enough-to-closed community via marriage, and who inevitably attracts suspicion for her 'otherness', plus a few villagers who really struggle to accept change and difference, and make a bit of trouble. But the heart of the story belongs to two teenage girls who meet and form the most devoted of bonds - a bond that can withstand the greatest challenge imaginable.

The book is literally in 3 parts (Before, After, Now), as is the story (Prussia, Ship, South Australia), but they don't quite match up. That's as far as I'll go towards describing an event that sets this story apart. Just when we think Kent is doing what she has done before, and does very well, she introduces a daring new element. At first I was thrilled, then a little perplexed as I began to understand how this element would manifest, and finally I got it - I absolutely got it, and felt thankful that Kent was able to so cleverly bring together such a tender and touching end to the story.

I think established fans will not be disappointed, and it's likely Kent's fanbase will grow even larger to reward the risks that have been taken with this book.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for an advance copy to read and review.

[charlotte, · Rating 5 out of 5]

my life is ruined

read my full review on readsrainbow!

Rep: lesbian mc, lesbian li

[Kyriaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5⭐

Την Hannah Kent με την υπέροχη γραφή της την αγαπώ!

Στην Λατρεία παρακολουθούμε την Χάνε μια κοπέλα που ζει σε ένα μικρό χωριό της Πρωσίας το 1836. Η Χάνε είναι λίγο διαφορετική, προτιμά την συντροφιά των δέντρων που της τραγουδούν παρά των άλλων κοριτσιών. Ώσπου συναντά την Τέα και δεν νιώθει πια μόνη, νιώθει πως υπάρχει επιτέλους κάποιος που την καταλαβαίνει.
Και μετά πρέπει να φύγουν. Όλοι μαζί, όλο το χωριό. Γιατί εκεί στην Πρωσία δεν είναι ελεύθεροι να εκδηλώνουν την πίστη τους στο Θεό όπως θέλουν και όταν τους δίνεται η ευκαιρία, ρισκάρουν, και την παίρνουν, και μπαίνουν σε ένα καράβι με προορισμό την Αυστραλία με την ελπίδα για μια καλύτερη πιο ελεύθερη ζωή.

Devotion, που είναι ο τίτλος στα αγγλικά, σημαίνει εκτός από λατρεία, και ευλάβεια και αφιέρωση και αγάπη και αφοσίωση μαζί. Και το βιβλίο είναι όλα αυτά, μια ιστορία αγάπης και αφοσίωσης. Από την Χάνε στην Τέα και από την Τέα στην Χάνε.

Μιλάει για την αγάπη σε όλες της τις μορφές, που είναι ικανή να σε κάνει να νιώσεις την μεγαλύτερη ευτυχία αλλά και τον μεγαλύτερο πόνο.
Για την πίστη, την κάθε πίστη, στο Θεό, στη φύση, στους ανθρώπους και στην αγάπη.
Και για την ελευθερία. Την ελευθερία της πίστης, την ελευθερία να ζεις και να αγαπάς και να είσαι ο εαυτός σου.

Με έκανε να χαμογελάσω και να κλάψω και να νιώσω τόσα πολλά πράγματα! Και ξανά, πόσο υπέροχη, υπέροχη, υ π ε ρ ο χ η είναι η γραφή της! Από την πρώτη σελίδα ένιωσα πως θα είναι κάτι σπουδαίο!


Δύο πράγματα:
🌺Η ιστορία στη μέση περίπου πήρε μια τροπή που δεν περίμενα και δεν έχω αποφασίσει ακόμη πώς νιώθω γι’αυτό αν και κατανοώ το σκεπτικό.
🌺Θέλω η Hannah Kent να γράψει ένα βιβλίο λίγο fantasy, λίγο fairytale, λίγο σαν αυτά που γράφει η Susanna Clarke, νομίζω θα της πήγαινε πάρα πολύ!


Δεν μπαίνω στη διαδικασία να βάλω στη σειρά τα βιβλία της, διάβασα το κάθε ένα σε διαφορετική φάση της ζωής μου και δεν μπορώ να τα συγκρίνω, τα αγαπώ όλα από λίγο!

[Gerasimos Evangelatos]

Ένα αφοπλιστικό ευαγγέλιο πραγμαγικής αγάπης. Η μεταφυσική γραφή της Kent στα καλύτερά της - αν και το μεγαλύτερο θαύμα παραμένει η σπουδαία μετάφραση της Μαρίας Αγγελίδου (εδώ σε συνεργασία με τον Άγγελο Αγγελίδη). Νομίζω εκεί στον Ίκαρο πρέπει να της στήσουν έναν αδριάντα.

[Akvilina Cicėnaitė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laukiau šitos knygos pasirodant. Vis dėlto sodriu, tamsiu realizmu persunkta Hannah Kent man turbūt labiau prie širdies nei ši - mistiškoji ir lyriškoji.

[RitaSkeeter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this book had me enthralled and then…wtf. The author decided to employ the most tired of literary fiction tropes by killing her protagonist meaning we see the second half through the eyes of her ghost . There was no reason for this in my view - it added not to the book. Really, felt like two different novels that didn’t mesh together. Kent’s prose was a lot more purple than I recall it also.

Lots of darlings here that should’ve been killed.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s deeply comforting to be in the hands of a writer as accomplished as Hannah Kent. Gothic, queer historical fiction like this comes to life in her hands. Something surprising happens at the half-way point of this book and I was initially unsure about it but of course I can trust Kent and she made it beautiful. At a sentence level she is one of my favourite contemporary writers. Beautiful sentence after beautiful sentence after beautiful sentence.