Úna is an unhappy teacher living near Reykjavík and just barely making ends meet when her closest friend Sara shows her an interesting job listing in a remote town in Iceland with a reported population of just 10 people. Before long, Úna is unsure about what she has let herself in for but also feels unable to do a u-turn.

Jónasson has created a tense, moody thriller darkened further by the claustrophobic long nights of the northern winter of Iceland; it is so good I just had to finish it, once I started reading!!

I was expecting a crime thriller but this is more of a supernatural mystery with a bit of crime sprinkled in at the end.
Una applies for a job in a very remote village to teach the only two children that are there. She gets the job and travels for a few days to get there.
Una is met with a frosty welcome and she’s clearly an outsider to this close knit community.
At night she is woken by a child singing a lullaby and she keeps seeing a little girl in a white dress. Una can’t work out if she’s dreaming but grows more and more worried about it.
Tragedy strikes the village and Una is left living on her own and the haunting gets so bad she starts to sleep downstairs.
It also soon becomes apparent that the community are keeping secrets from her.
This is a good read that definitely held my attention.
Thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I’d like to thank Penguin Michael Joseph UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Girl Who Died’ written by Ragnar Jonasson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Una needs a change in her life and moves from Reykjavik to isolated Skala which has only ten inhabitants to take up a new position teaching two girls, Edda who’s seven and Kolbrun nine. Una feels she’s losing her mind when she hears the ghost of a young girl singing a lullaby and starts drinking too much wine. She finds the atmosphere at Skala tense and unforgiving, the villagers don’t trust her and don’t make any effort to make her feel welcome, then at Christmas-time there’s an unexplained death.

As with a lot of Nordic thrillers, ‘The Girl Who Died’ is a slow-burner that gradually picks up speed as the story progresses and we become more involved in Una and the inhabitants. The bleak and bitterly cold atmosphere of Skala pervades the narrative until I could almost feel a chilling of my bones, and the story throws up a few surprises and twists and turns until it gradually reaches a conclusion and we learn the secret the villagers have been keeping. There's no great excitement and I haven't enjoyed this novel as much as others by this author but it's nevertheless a good solid read.

Very atmospheric. I got the feel of Iceland and its climate. The long dark nights and ghosts of the past. I also liked the character of Una and her difficulties in trying to fit into such a small community.
An interesting read

A very atmospheric Nordic mystery.
A very slow burner with a ghost story included with a twist at the end.

Una is at a low point in her life and takes up a teaching job in a remote village in Iceland with only ten adults and two children.
Things are not as they seem as the village try`s to hide it`s secrets.
A bit slow for me and I`m not into ghost story`s but very atmospheric describing the cold Icelandic village. and Una a bit wimpy for me so scored it 3.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I started this book I thought it would be one of those Nordic noir thrillers, filled with action from beginning to end. But no, this is a slow burning, atmospheric and gripping book
The descriptions are so vivid that they gave me chills down my spine. I have to admit that once I went to sleep, I refused to open my eyes until morning and often enough I had the feeling that I am seeing that little girl with the white dress and hear a lullaby somewhere far
The ending was an absolute kick. I mean, really? Who was expecting that? It was perfect.

Una is a solitary woman living in Reykjavik, Iceland. Her father is dead and her mother remarried. She is a Supply teacher but struggles financially since buying her apartment.
Sara a friend shows her an advert for a teacher in a remote village in the north on the Langanes peninsula - Skalar. The position is for the winter. A few weeks later having been appointed, she is on her way north.
She is staying with a young woman Salka. There are only two children to be taught. Salka's daughter Edda and another slightly older girl Kolbrun. There are only ten people in the village. A village elder Guffi and his wheelchair bound wife Erika. Kolbrun's parents and a couple - the husband works in the fishing with Guffi and the wife runs the village store. There is also a woman who runs the farm.
Una finds that most of the villagers are unwelcoming. She has further discomfit when she learns that the house she is lodging in is haunted.by a young girl who dies in the house some years ago. She does her best to teach the two girls when a horrendous incident makes her wish she had never come to this remote unwelcoming place.
I've read a few of this author's books. He writes well and his stories are interesting. There is another story within this book about murders and missing bodies, with a court case and suspects which have a bearing on Skalar. Recommended as a good read.

If you have read Winterkill, Ragnar's previous Icelandic crime novel, you will be aware of the small, microcosm worlds that he creates around an incident and the lack of fast-paced plot or thrills. This book also follows that pattern, in that it focuses on a remote area of Iceland with only eleven inhabitants.
The lack of tension and need for shocks means that the reader can focus on getting to know the characters. We just follow Una as she moves to Skalar, when she gets a position as a teacher for the two sole children that live in the remote village. The residents are a close-knit community and Una soon finds that there are secrets and histories that the villagers keep to themselves.
It has a supernatural element to it, as the house she stays in has a ghostly girl. Is the lack of justice and cover-up for what happened to her, the reason she still haunts the place?

The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson
The cold isolated setting of this novel is a pervading influence throughout. It is set on the edge of Iceland in the remote village of Skalar on the Langanes Peninsula with a population of just 10 people.
Una, a woman with a troubled past and nothing in her life which holds her to her life in Reykjavik, decides to apply for the post of teacher to the two village children. From the outset there are gothic overtones to this novel as Una notices a ghostly face at the window as she enters Salka’s house where she will be residing. The villagers do not welcome her into the village and her reception is as icy as the environment.
She begins to hear lullabies sung to a child who died in 1927 and there is an air of unease which pervades the novel. As the book is set in 1985 Una is effectively cut off from everyone with no television and only the phone in Salka’s house to enable her to communicate with the outside world.
Running alongside this story there is another story briefly told and which you cannot initially link to the main narrative. When the link is revealed I was confounded by Una’s response and for me the ending was a little hurried.
Many thanks to the author, the publishers, Michael Joseph/Penguin and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Una's father has committed suicide. He did it on her birthday - Christmas Eve and she is struggling. Spending her time alone drinking and contemplating the same fate.
She then sees a advert in a paper looking for a teacher for two girls in the tiny village of Skálar - population of ten in a remote village on the north coast.
When she arrives, however she realises it is not a friendly place, the weather and the village are bleak and her attic flat is supposedly haunted.
Then at the Christmas service one of her pupils drops down dead in front of the village. Why, how and who is responsible?
Una feels she is slowly going mad.

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed a number of Ragnar Jonasson’s previous books however this wasn’t the case with The Girl Who Died.

The book was very slow in the early stages and it took too long for anything of real substance to occur before an ending that left me thinking “what has actually happened”.

So yes I was disappointed although the author still has some credit left in the tank for his previous books

This was my first Ragnar Jónasson book! It was so atmospheric, I absolutely loved the setting. I found it initially a little slow but I think that the slow burn is part of the enjoyment of this one. There’s a supernatural element to the story and it’s more than a little creepy, especially when paired with the desolate surroundings and small village. Overall I enjoyed the book, and I’ll try another of his very soon. Maybe a little too slow for me.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by this book. I normally love Ragnar Jónasson’s books, and I think this one is definitely my least favourite. I feel like it took too long for anything to happen, and not much happened throughout the whole book. Have you ever read a book and once you’ve finished, you don’t actually know what it was about? Unfortunately that’s exactly how I felt about this one. I didn’t really see the point of it, as I feel like there wasn’t a main storyline. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, and I struggled to connect with them. However, there was something that I enjoyed about it, and something that kept me engrossed. There was something that I liked about it, but I don’t know what that thing is. The twist at the end did surprise me, which is what made me give this a 3 star rating and not 2. I was disappointed by this one, but I am looking forward to reading more from Ragnar Jónasson in the future.

One of those creepy, slow burning books that hooks you in and keeps you reading to find out what on earth's going on. Kept me interested and I read it in one sitting - one of those days where you get nothing else done!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a different sort of book from the norm from this author

a job vacancy at the other end of the country but in Reykjavik you have to account for the snow ice and cold cold wind..but una applies and gets the job

a teaching job in a very small village there are only 10 people that live there and two children that are to attend school...

its not long before una finds living in this very small and strange village a struggle. with the villagers not making her feel welcome it all becomes a strain...

and then theres a knock at the door...and things start to change and not for the good...

it was very different from what i am use to from this author but the background of the village sounds fascinating

The latest from Ragnar Jónasson, The Girl Who Died, is a slow burning yet chilling read. When Una applies for a teaching job in Skálar it is as much to get away from her sad past as to experience somewhere completely different to Reykjavik. But Skálar is a fishing village of just ten very close-knit folk who, for the most part, seem not to want Una there at all. Ghosts, secrets and threats converge and Una is desperate for someone to confide in but who can she trust? Thór, the man she is attracted to but who holds her at arm’s length or Salka, mother of one of the two girls she has been employed to teach? And then another story emerges told from the POV of a young girl who is forced to confess to murders she didn’t commit. Menacing, chilling and ghostly, I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of Icelandic noir. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC.

A creepy Icelandic ghost story/thriller. Una decides to get away from it all to teach in a remote fishing village where the locals are not particularly friendly. Disturbing events and secrets abound amongst the dark and gloomy location. I enjoyed this but wasn’t sure where it was leading, but there was an unexpected twist towards the end. If you are a lover of Scandi noir then you should enjoy this! Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this atmospheric book.

I enjoyed this dark ghostly story set in a remote corner of Iceland. Goodness it sounds very creepy up there, very dark for most of the winter. The idea of going to teach in a small community appealed, until Una got there, then she began to have second or even third thoughts.
The community is very closed and not terribly welcoming, but she soldiers on determined not to give into to her fears, however the situation changes and she is at a loss to know what to do.
Great book, loved it.

if you like a bit of Scandi noir, this is pretty noir. The build-up is suitably creepy, with 'a local town for local people' kind of air about it, with strangers not welcome at all. The creep factor doesn't really kick in in full, however, in part because this story has two diverse threads - is this a murder mystery or a ghost story? We know there have been murders, so it's clearly a murder-mystery, so where does the ghost come in? Why? I may be getting a bit thick-skinned, but the chill never really bit. And the ending... Well, not at all sure about that.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC copy.

After seeing a job ad for a teacher at the end of the world, Una applies and finds herself teaching two children in a small close knit community of ten. Once she arrives she finds herself shut out from the community and living in a haunted room. What exactly is going on in Skalar?

This is a dark, brooding, atmospheric story that's a slow burner. Unfortunately I found it a little too slow for my liking and lost interest in the middle. Luckily the end picked up and the outcome was better than I thought it would be.