Sacrifice

Starred review from April 28, 2008
Set in the Shetland Islands, Bolton's compelling debut pits young obstetrician Tora Hamilton, newly arrived from London, against local Nordic folklore, suspicious islanders and a monstrous but brilliant plot with mythic overtones. While digging a hole in a field for her dead saddle horse, Tora discovers a young woman's corpse, with Viking runes incised in the back and the heart torn from the breast. How long the body has been buried is uncertain, but during the autopsy Tora realizes the victim had recently given birth. Longing for a child of her own, Tora dissects away layer after layer of deceit and deception involving everyone she used to trust, especially her husband, Duncan Guthrie, who grew up on the Shetlands and chose the site of their new home. Though Bolton's operating-theater realities and her characters' powerfully inhuman motivations may jar fainthearted sensibilities, this promising new talent delivers some profound insights into the eternal nature of evil.