Una is a school teacher in her 30's debating what she should do with her life. Scraping by day to day, she sees an advert for "a teacher at the end of the world" when she decides that she has nothing to lose and an adventure to gain so she sets off on her new post. The end of the world is a small community of 10 people with rumors and stories circulating as only they can in a small town. What is fact and what is fiction?

This was a gripping mystery/thriller that was thoroughly enjoyable. It had a European feel - the characters weren't hysterical or overreacting or doing silly things. They had the philosophy of, "Ok, that happened. Now, moving on." This was so refreshing compared to the "woe is me" characters that I have read of late. Throughout this book, there was this push and pull. Would there be a rational explanation or a supernatural explanation and would we even know the answers to everything?

This was one of those books that I was kept guessing until the very end. And let's just say that the ending didn't disappoint......

Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World

Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at the four walls of her shabby apartment. Celebrating Christmas and ringing in 1986 in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar seems like a small price to pay for a chance to earn some teaching credentials and get her life back on track. As darkness descends on this isolated land, Una starts to feel overwhelmed by the secrets of the dozen people she calls her new community. She is plagued by nightmares of a little girl in a white dress singing a lullaby. A tragic death echoing the past brings the villagers to become even more guarded, leaving suspicious Una to uncover a shocking truth that’s been kept secret for generations.

I absolutely love Ragnar’s series reads and have devoured almost everything that he has published (I swear I’m reading THE MIST soon), so I was thrilled when I saw that he had a stand alone novel hitting shelves. Ragnar has an amazing knack for creating some of the most atmospheric books I have ever read. I always feel transported to the location his stories are set in and with THE GIRL WHO DIED a great claustrophobic element was added on top to escalate the intensity of this story.

THE GIRL WHO DIED is set at a slower, methodical pace that delicately unpacks the hidden secrets of Skálar in both past and present. Sprinkled throughout the story are hints at a history, but it isn’t until the end where all the pieces to the puzzle finally click together thanks to Una’s determination in finding answers. This is a great story to truly immerse yourself in and will have you guessing throughout!

A huge thank you to Minotaur Books for my gifted copy!

Brrrr! I feel chilled to the bone after inhabiting the world of Skalar while I read this book. The surroundings are so deftly described that I could feel the cold and isolation and the ominous atmosphere. The story is about Una and the frequent insertions of paragraphs about some unknown woman who is being held in jail for a crime she didn't commit, seemed totally out of place. There seemed to be no connection between the two stories.

Poor Una - she felt so alone in the world already and then to be shunned by the village when she arrived to be a teacher was so sad. Her future looked as bleak as the Skalar weather.

This is a slow-moving story until the last few chapters when everything comes together. It ends with as many questions as answers - - will Una and Thor end up together? Will Una stay in Skalar now that she seems to be accepted by the village?

Is this a ghost story or a mystery? It's both. There seems to be an explanation for the ghost story part. And yet - - - - - -

3.5 overall!

Living in Reykjavík during the 1980's, aspiring teacher Una finds herself unsatisfied with how her life has turned out so far. She's single, living in a rather old apartment, and unable to find a steady teaching job. Despite living in Iceland's biggest city Una lives an almost isolated existence so when a friend shows her a job posting for a "Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World" Una sees the opportunity to shake things up by moving to a small fishing village famous for having only 10 people living in it.

After getting the job and moving to Skálar, Una has to adjust to the different ways of living that come with being in such a small and isolated place, cohabiting with villagers who aren't all happy to have her there. As the nights grow longer and colder Una begins to have nightmares of a girl who died in the village years ago and realizes that the small village is hiding more than its share of secrets.

This is a difficult book to rate because while there were many aspects of it that I enjoyed I don't think it will be for everyone. It's a very atmospheric, almost meandering story that takes its time building suspense leading to the end reveal. There aren't many big, shocking twists but the story does have a constant sense of building tension and honestly had my hair standing on end at some points. I've only dabbled in this genre before but from what I understand this is very typical of the Nordic/Scandinavian noir mystery sub-genre and I think anyone who enjoys that genre or is okay with a slower paced mystery in general will really like this.

This is a translated work and while there are some awkward sentences at points (which almost always happens with translations in my experience) I would say that overall it is a very well written and well executed story. Everything feels purposeful and even the things that don't make sense at the time get tied together so that everything makes sense in the end. I honestly wish I could read this in the original Icelandic to fully appreciate Jónasson's writing style but it's definitely still enjoyable in English as well.

This story does feature a dual timeline and I would say that the secondary timeline is one of my only real complaints about this book. It's not until quite late in the book that you find out who/what the second timeline is about and I found that confusing and a little frustrating because I just couldn't understand how that timeline was relevant. As I mentioned above, it does make sense in the end and I can even understand some of the reason behind building suspense in that regard but I personally would have liked earlier clarification about when that timeline was happening at the very least.

In my opinion the setting and the atmosphere are the absolute stars of this novel as they contribute so much to the overall reading experience. This seems like an excellent example of Nordic/Scandinavian Noir and I truly believe that if you enjoy that genre you will love this book. For me personally, it was a little slower than what I would typically read and there were parts that I found slightly unsatisfying but I did still enjoy this book and thought it made for a great change of pace in what I normally read. This is my first read by this author and I will be looking into some of his other books because I did enjoy the writing style.

It is the 1980s and Una, who has not been particularly successful in her life in Reykjavik, takes a job teaching at the “edge of the world”. It is dark, dismal, cold Skálar, population 10, including the 2 children she will be teaching. The citizens, quirky all, are not particularly welcoming to Una. And, it seems the house, in particular the room she is occupying, may be haunted by the ghost of a young child who died in the 1920s.

This Nordic noir is highly readable, atmospheric, and engrossing, although it was
difficult for me to find any likable characters. Una, despite the early tragedy in her life (hinted at in the beginning and fully revealed later in the novel), is kind of annoying.

I typically do not like the supernatural. While this had touches of it, it was tolerable for me.
Read this book for its depiction of a small closed society and its richly created setting, not for suspense, twists and turns or compelling plot.

I've been a longtime fan of Ragnar Jonasson's series-based novels,, and so I was super excited when his first standalone novel was announced, and I definitely was not disappointed. The Girl Who Died is a mystery, thriller, ghost story all wrapped up in a riveting must-read.

The setting of a small town comprised of eleven residents is the perfect setting. It's really a locked room mystery that encompasses a whole town, which I found absolutely fascinating. The characters are believable and realistic, and the plot makes it fast-paced enough that I really wanted everyone to go away and leave me alone so that I could devour it in one setting!

The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson

Una answers an ad for a teacher and heads to the remote fishing village of Skálar to teach two children. She quickly finds herself in the middle of a tragedy, mystery, and old ghost story, and the ten people in the village seem to be keeping something from her.

The book is eerie in every aspect, from the darkness of winter in the village, to the houses/buildings, and the people - everything just gives you the chills and you wonder if Una is in over her head and is going to end up in a near death experience or worse because of her persistency in finding out the truth.

The book started off a little slow, but then it picked up more about 3/4 of the way through and I couldn’t put it down, which is why I gave it the 1/2 star.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫

Thank you to NetGalley / St. Martin’s Press for my copy in exchange for an honest review!

#TheGirlWhoDied #NetGalley

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC.

This was my first thriller by Ragnar Jonasson and plan to read more by Mr. Jonasson.

I really enjoyed this supernatural thriller that kept my guessing until the end. I found the pace a little slow but I felt engaged with the story. I really liked the characters. The main character, Una, was very relatable and her struggles were understandable.

I highly recommend this book!! 4.5 Stars!

I received a complimentary copy of The Girl Who Died from NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I am not sure what to think about this one. There were competing storylines, which did not line-up until nearer the end. There was not real resolution for the secondary storyline, so I am not sure why it was included at all—except maybe to provide a little backstory without revealing any secrets that were saved for later in the book. I was expecting the same fate of the main character as the secondary storyline—which would have been a cool twist, so when that did not happen, I could see no clear reason for it to be there at all. Interesting story, but the format/delivery just wasn’t smooth because of the interruptions. This is a shame, because the premise of a town of 10 people who may or may not harbor huge secrets for one another was a very unique backdrop for the strange occurrences in the town. The out-of-town teacher, Una, had her hands full just trying to determine how she might fit into the town, plus teaching the two students, the prospect of beginning a romance, and unraveling a mystery or two.

The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson is set in the tiny village of Skalar, Iceland in the 1980s. There are no cell phones, internet, or media presence during this time period. The story has a melancholy feeling surrounding the main character, Una. She feels restless with her life in Reykjavik. When her friend shows her an ad for a teacher’s job in the isolated village of Skalar she decides to apply. When she arrives and realizes the village only boasts ten people with two students for her to teach, she begins to wonder just what she signed up for.

Jonasson did a wonderful job setting the scene of the book but the plot pacing was a bit too slow for my preference and I found Una, the protagonist, in need of more character development.

** thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC I received**

This was my first Ragnar Jonasson book and I’m not sure it was the right book of his to start with as I’ve heard very good things about his other books. This one was just meh for me.

The setting and premise of the story are very creepy and claustrophobic. However the main character, Una, is weak and annoying. I mean you’re moving to a village of 10 people on the far side of Iceland where you know nobody and you’re whining because you feel alone? What did you expect???

It wasn’t until about 40% of the book that something actually happens and wasn’t until about 80% where any real mystery happens. Overall it was a very fast read at least but glad I didn’t pay money for this one. I will give another of his books a try though.

This was a very interesting story. I was pulled in from the start and not let go till the end. This is a new author to me and I will be looking for more stories by this author.

I chose to read this book because of the description. Reading about a teacher living in a remote village in Iceland peaked my interest, and I’ve been trying to branch out and read books from different parts of the world.
I really enjoyed the setting; it was interesting to read about a different country and culture, and I felt like I learned a little bit about Iceland. About halfway through the book, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep reading, but I sat down and finished it in about two hours. The ending was satisfying and I’m glad that I kept reading it. The writing was simple, but descriptive and easy to follow, which made for a good reading experience.

The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson is set in the tiny village of Skalar, Iceland in the 1980s. There are no cell phones, internet, or media presence during this time period. The story has a melancholy feeling surrounding the main character, Una. She feels restless with her life in Reykjavik. Una is barely getting by on her income and her friend Sara brings her a paper with an ad for " Teacher wanted at the edge of the world". Una decides to take a chance on one school term in an isolated village with only 10 residents. She will have two students, receive an income plus have an apartment free of costs. Most of the people in the village seem to be sullen and unwilling to accept Una into the group.
I thought Una was impulsive to assume Thór would be interested in a relationship so soon after a chance meeting in the fog on her first evening in the village. She goes to the house where he lives and asks for him, not knowing if he is married or in a relationship.
As winter, the long darkness, and icy cold begins, Una is drawn deeper into a mystery of the little girl who died in the attic room where she now lives. She wakes up hearing the sweet voice of a child singing an old lullaby. Una needs to know what happened to the little girl!
The story will have the reader feeling the chilling cold and feeling the slow fear of the unknown in a strange place.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This is my first taste of Jonasson's writing and I'm quite hooked! The story is very atmospheric, set in the tiny, remote village of Skalar on the Langanes Peninsula in northeast Iceland. The bleak landscape plays a big role in the story, as the sea crashes, the winds howl, the buildings moan. Yes, I am going to call this a haunting suspense thriller.

Una is a lonely young woman with a sorrowful past who decides to leave her home in Reykjavik to answer the advertisement for a 'teacher wanted at the edge of the world.' She hopes it will be a fresh start for her in this remote village of only ten people, where she will be given a place to live and will have just two students, two girls who are 7 and 9.

Her car barely makes it there over the rough roads; the tiny village seems even more remote than she has imagined. Her attic flat in the home of one of her students seems serviceable enough but...what are those strange noises she's hearing in the night?

The villagers are not particularly welcoming, not even the handsome young man named Thor Una literally bumps into on her first night there. But there's one married man who comes on to her and lets it slip that Una is indeed living in a haunted house! Yes, it's haunted by the little girl who died...

In the immortal words of The Clash:
"Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go, there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double."

And what would Una do if she left? She's given up her job in Reykjavik and sublet her apartment. Plus she's signed a contract for a year of teaching. So maybe she can get through the year, with a little help from a nightly bottle of wine.

Una is smart and likable but perhaps a little too stubborn and inquisitive for her own good. Maybe she should try just a little harder to fit in.

There's one more strand to the story, which is set off in italics. It's about a murder and subsequent accusations. How does this tie in with Una's story? Wait and see!

I actually envisioned a much more brutal ending to the novel than what actually happened. I'm rather glad Ragnar Jonasson had something much more interesting up his sleeve!

I received an arc of this new suspense novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more of his books. Many thanks for the opportunity.

Definitely another great one by this author! 5/5 Stars from me!
Jonasson has easily become a go-to author for me and just continues to be. I absolutely love his writing style and how chilling and twisty his stories are. The characters are well written and relatable.

The Review

A truly incredible blend of rich culture and history within Iceland with the chilling suspense that readers have come to expect from the author with a brilliant supernatural twist, THE GIRL WHO DIED is a fantastic nail-bitter of a thriller. The author does a fantastic job of making the setting of the novel such an integral part of the narrative that it feels like the small community feels like a character all its own, hiding its own secrets and becoming just as mysterious as the people living within it.

What stands out to this reader especially is just how incredibly written the narrative is. The mystery of this local legend and the level of secrecy the townspeople have are powerful motivators for the protagonist’s search for the truth. Yet it is the cast of characters that really make this thriller a standout, as the setting is such a small community with only a handful of citizens adds importance to the narrative and the pacing of the story, making their involvement in the overall plot super important.

The Verdict

A mesmerizing, haunting, and gripping thriller, author Ragnar Jónasson’s “The Girl Who Died” is a must-read novel. The twists and turns of the story will keep readers glued to the edge of their seats, while the final pages will be remembered forever by the readers who delve into this novel. Be sure to grab your copy today!

How could you go wrong with something that starts "Teacher needed for the edge of the world"? That sounds promising, doesn't it?

Alas, although I am a fan of Ragnar Jonasson otherwise, The Girl Who Died just does not live up to his other books.

The teacher is Una, the edge of the world is the remote village of Skalar (population:10), and there are two girls who die, one in this time, and one in a previous time. There is - remarkably - even a hunky guy for Una to crush on, which is a good respite from the weirdos who otherwise populate the town. Her charges are two girls, and that's the extent of her classroom. We don't get a lot of lookins on lessons: just enough to know that one girl is outgoing, can sing, and is the swan, the other is introverted, can't carry a tune, and is probably an embarrassment to her mother and her lech of a father, who hits on Una when she meets him.

The best thing about this book is the setting - and more specifically, the outdoor setting. The bleak and barren landscape is described with a suitable creepiness, and may as well be on the dark side of the moon on the remoteness scale.

The plot moves along - Una sees ghost her first day in town, which told me right off I['d chosen poorly in this instance. I'm just not a fan of ghost stories, and while Una's feelings while in house, alone, were well-described, at times she seemed on the edge of the hysteria abyss, about to fall in.

There's a random subplot that suddenly pops up about 3/4 of the way through, which just dissolves into nothing, and there is a death that was intended for someone else.

The end just fizzled for me, as it was terribly anticlimactic. Una may be part of the town now, but to me, she belongs back in the city.

Two stars out of five. I'm treating this as a one-off and look forward to Jonasson's next book.

Thanks to St Martin's and NetGalley for the review copy.

This was...odd. It has a very Gothic feel and is dark as I've come to expect from Scandinavian stories, but not in the usual way. This is a ghost story through and through - but there's more to it than that. It just takes a long time to get there...

Jonasson does a fantastic job setting the scene here - his descriptions of the end of the world in Iceland are magnificent and very evocative. The story goes up and down in pacing and engagement though, and that's where I struggled. I never considered not finishing but there were times when it was a bit more of a slog than I wanted it to be. I found the big reveal and the ending both dramatic and anti-climactic at the same time. Still, on the whole, it was an easy enough read and engaging for all that.

This was not my favorite of his writings, but he is without a doubt a talented writer and I will continue to eagerly look for his books as they appear...

Ragnar Jónasson has long been on my radar as someone whose books I'd likely enjoy (given that I'm a fan of crime fiction). I was excited to learn he had a stand-alone novel coming out: The Girl Who Died.

In the book, Una takes a teaching job in a tiny village where she'll have just two students. The village, Skalar, is on the Langanes peninsula in northeast Iceland. Its inhabitants are insular -- Una is not made to feel welcome -- and her new home is, quite naturally, haunted.

I enjoyed this for being a short read; it's slow-paced, but easy to get through quickly. But I'm afraid something was lacking in execution for me. For a book with supernatural elements set in a dark, small town, I never felt all that creeped out. Nor was I engaged by working out any mystery/following along as Una looked for answers..

Fans of gothic fiction and slow-burn mysteries may like this one more than I did.