Uncovering the Past
By M. CLARE HAEFNER | Cover courtesy of BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING
Bog Queen by Anna North (Bloomsbury Publishing, October 2025) is the only book I can recall reading in which moss narrated part of the story.
The bog, which is as alive as anything on Earth, is the connection between two young women living more than 2,000 years apart. It holds countless secrets through the centuries from Rome’s arrival in Britain to the modern day where a very well-preserved body has been unearthed.
“A colony of moss does not experience emotions like fondness or intimacy, but if it did, it might say this: We held her. We kept her safe under the surface, in our bath of earth, for many times her lifespan. That we give her up now may seem to be purely random, an accident of excavation. In fact, the hour of her service is at hand,” North writes as she sets the scene for Bog Queen.
Forensic anthropologist Agnes is called in to determine whether the body pulled from the bog is that of a young woman who disappeared a few decades ago, but she soon discovers that this body is much older — from about 20 B.C.
Bog Queen moves between Agnes in post-Brexit England to the Iron Age when a young Druid priestess is at the height of her power. Both have unusual talents and the bog links them together in a mystery that takes readers on an exciting adventure through time.
As Agnes tries to determine how the ancient woman in the bog died, she is also forced to question her own talent and self-reliance. With a peat company fighting with environmentalists over the bog’s future, Agnes has to learn to trust others to get access to the bog to keep digging to uncover clues.
Meanwhile, chapters from Iron Age Britain unveil the young woman’s journey as Rome begins to take a foothold, threatening the Celtic way of life. Nameless then and in the present, North crafts a revealing look at an extraordinary young woman nearly forgotten by time.
The moss helps the story move back and forth to a very satisfying conclusion.
Anna North is known for novels featuring strong female characters. In the best-selling Outlawed, North upends tropes in typical Western novels, giving a gang of women power as they fight for the freedom to choose their own fate.
With Bog Queen, North delivers another captivating narrative that puts women front and center while also causing readers to think about what impact humans have had on the environment. She uses the moss colony to give voice to how the planet has changed. The moss has seen countless human lifetimes, witnessing periods of peace and prosperity, famine and war, and yet it endures.
