I first experienced
the silvery light of the far north in Lapland in 1970 on a university
expedition. I had never been anywhere wholly wild before. I was hooked. In the
Faroes I discovered the true force of the Atlantic Ocean. The obvious place to
settle was Shetland, where I worked in the library and discovered the sagas. Summers spent volunteering on a
Viking excavation on the island of Papa Stour inspired my first novel. I became
a historical novelist with a particular interest in the liminal spaces where
peoples and cultures live ‘on the edges’ Then came Greenland, Vinland, Hy Brasil… there is no end to
exploration, even now.
This thin volume, containing Graenlendinga Saga and Eirik’s Saga, is perfect for carrying around Iceland and Greenland in one’s pocket or re-living dangerous voyages to the edges of the known world in armchair comfort. With typical sparse understatement, these sagas cover the Norse colonisation of Greenland and Vinland. And what a story: vibrant characters, feuds, violence, courage, and extraordinary adventure. Is it all true? Archaeology says broadly ‘yes’; Icelanders remember saga incidents as if they’d happened yesterday. I can’t but see these ultra-masculine journeys through the eyes of Gudrid, possibly the first Norse woman to reach North America. Gudrid is the heroine of The Sea Road, a feisty, much-married adventurer who, in my reading, stands at the heart of these sagas.
The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red's Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik's son Leif the Lucky's perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the North Atlantic to pass down this compelling tale of the first Europeans to…
Why would I carry a one-kilo hardback around Greenland and Newfoundland on my back? Because Helge Ingstad was the archaeologist who discovered and excavated L’Anse Aux Meadowes, the first archaeological corroboration of Norse settlement in North America. Also because Land Under the Pole Star does the sort of sea exploration I have only dreamed about, following the Viking voyagers to Greenland and Vinland (wherever that was; personally I find Ingstad’s theories convincing). Not too colonial or patriarchal for modern sensibilities, Ingstad’s project is to relate the old Norse texts to what he finds on the ground. He’s an acute, sympathetic observer of Greenlandic life. I couldn’t have found a better guide, and if you like northern journeys with a scholarly purpose, this is the very book.
pp. 381, black and white photographs, index. "'Land Under the Pole Star' is the exploration reading and historical detection to absorb the general reader and fill vital historical gaps for the expert. And throughout it is an evocative picture of a robust, long-lost society, which holds many important keys to our past." previous owners bookplate…
Perhaps Asta Sollilja is the fictional heroine who haunts me the most - even more than Gudrid. Her sufferings are the result of accumulative bitter ironies on a saga scale, but Asta Sollilja has a capacity for love that isn’t evident in the strong women of the Medieval sagas. She has a different kind of strength. Born into poverty-stricken rural Iceland in the early 1900s, Asta Sollilja is raised the hard way by her stepfather Bjartur, the central character of the novel. Bjartur’s harsh struggle as an independent sheep farmer is emblematic of Iceland (national independence came in 1944). However, for me, the heart of the novel is the desperate tension between father and daughter, a life-and-death struggle if ever there was one.
Icelanders still remember how in 1627 Algerian pirates carried off around 400 people, including nearly everyone from Heimaey. Archives record that Asta ∂orsteinsdottir and pastor Olaf Egilsson and their children were among them. Just how traumatic would that be, to have not only yourself but, worse, your beloved family, snatched from home and sold into slavery? What are the chances of ever seeing your children again? Yet history shows repeatedly that human beings will suffer almost anything, and survive. Another powerful daughter of the sagas, Sally Magnusson’s Asta never lets go of who she is, and yet she is torn… who wouldn’t be? The feeling of soft silk trousers against her skin, compared with harsh heavy Icelandic wool - for me that encapsulates just how confusing loyalty and identity can be.
'A remarkable feat of imagination... I enjoyed and admired it in equal measure' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent 'An extraordinarily immersive read, that emphasises the power of stories, examining themes of motherhood, identity, exile and freedom ... a journey that not only crosses continents, but encompasses tragedy and rich sensuality' Guardian 'A powerful tale of Barbary pirates ... richly imagined.' Sunday Times 'Engrossing' Sunday Express 'Fascinating ... a really, really good read' BBC R2 Book Club 'The best sort of historical novel.' Scotsman 'A lyrical tale' Stylist 'A poetic retelling of Icelandic history.' Daily Mail 'Compelling stuff' Good…
The sudden death of a small boy in the impoverished Greenlandic community in Copenhagen precipitates Smilla’s enquiries into a mysterious network of contacts and undefined interests. Accident or murder? Smilla loved young Isaiah; she needs to know why. Her anger, tenacity, and curiosity lead her inexorably into danger. Love is the route to loss and betrayal. But Smilla is a Greenlander, and she knows all about snow; she can name everything in this frozen world. The closer she gets to home, the more perilous the journey, and the more Smilla knows where she is: “If you haven’t grown up in this landscape, it uses up your strength.” This is much more than a scary thriller; it’s about facing powerful odds and knowing who you are.
One snowy day in Copenhagen, six-year-old Isaiah falls to his death from a city rooftop.The police pronounce it an accident. But Isaiah's neighbour, Smilla, an expert in the ways of snow and ice, suspects murder. She embarks on a dangerous quest to find the truth, following a path of clues as clear to her as footsteps in the snow.
What was Gudrid really like? The sagas say she grew up by the volcano Snaefel, in a culture of feuding and farming in tenth-century Iceland. She was among the early Norse settlers of Greenland, and maybe the first European woman to give birth in North America. She had at least two husbands; she made her own pilgrimage to Rome. There are many strong women in the sagas, and Gudrid is a kinder character than most. However, as far as first-person narratives go, women’s voices are silent.
The Sea Road gives Gudrid her own voice, as she experiences the tensions between families, between desire and duty, pagan and Christian, her own people and the unknown Skraelings, and finally between the living and the dead.
I come by my interest in history and the years before, during, and after the Second World War honestly. For one thing, both my father and my father-in-law served as pilots in the war, my father a P-38 pilot in North Africa and my father-in-law a B-17 bomber pilot in England. Their histories connect me with a period I think we can still almost reach with our fingertips and one that has had a momentous impact on our lives today. I have taken that interest and passion to discover and write true life stories of the war—focusing on the untold and unheard stories often of the “Average Joe.”
October 24, 1944, is not a day of national remembrance. Yet, more Americans serving in World War II perished on that day than on any other single day of the war.
The narrative of No Average Day proceeds hour by hour and incident by incident while focusing its attention on ordinary individuals—clerks, radio operators, cooks, sailors, machinist mates, riflemen, and pilots and their air crews. All were men who chose to serve their country and soon found themselves in a terrifying and otherworldly place.
No Average Day reveals the vastness of the war as it reaches past the beaches in…
October 24, 1944, is not a day of national remembrance. Yet, more Americans serving in World War II perished on that day than on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, or on June 6, 1944, when the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, or on any other single day of the war. In its telling of the events of October 24, No Average Day proceeds hour by hour and incident by incident. The book begins with Army Private First-Class Paul Miller's pre-dawn demise in the Sendai #6B Japanese prisoner of war camp. It concludes with the death…
