SYNOPSIS
This is a story for all lovers of Vikings. It is not well known – but back in the 13th century scholars in Iceland wrote down the histories of the Vikings in Iceland, Norway and Scotland that had been handed down over the generations by story tellers. These accounts are known as ‘The Icelandic Sagas’. They are full of life, adventure and humour.
The history of Svein Asleifsson is told in the ‘Orkneyinga Saga’, probably written about the year 1200. For this account, I have also drawn on over thirty other sagas and tales to provide detail and interest and insights into the period. It is Svein’s own story, in his own words. Like most autobiographies, some of it is true!
The novel is a racy, graphic, personal account of the life of Svein Asleifsson, the Orkney and Caithness 12th century viking. The first-person narrative is written in a form of Scots which includes Norse-derived Orkney and Caithness dialects, giving authenticity to events and evoking a long-lost era.
Asleifsson was the last of the great Viking pirates based in the north of Scotland. He was feared and admired throughout the British Isles. The story tells of his everyday life; his turbulent relations with the Earls of Orkney and Caithness and the Kings of Scotland; his shifting alliances and fortunes; and his viking raids around the coasts of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, culminating in his death in Dublin in 1171. We follow his career as murderer, outlaw, conspirator, and confidant of the great Norse Earls.
The novel pays homage to the ‘Orkneyinga Saga’, but provides an original twist to it and takes it in a new direction.
This is a story for all lovers of Vikings. It is not well known – but back in the 13th century scholars in Iceland wrote down the histories of the Vikings in Iceland, Norway and Scotland that had been handed down over the generations by story tellers. These accounts are known as ‘The Icelandic Sagas’. They are full of life, adventure and humour.
The history of Svein Asleifsson is told in the ‘Orkneyinga Saga’, probably written about the year 1200. For this account, I have also drawn on over thirty other sagas and tales to provide detail and interest and insights into the period. It is Svein’s own story, in his own words. Like most autobiographies, some of it is true!
The novel is a racy, graphic, personal account of the life of Svein Asleifsson, the Orkney and Caithness 12th century viking. The first-person narrative is written in a form of Scots which includes Norse-derived Orkney and Caithness dialects, giving authenticity to events and evoking a long-lost era.
Asleifsson was the last of the great Viking pirates based in the north of Scotland. He was feared and admired throughout the British Isles. The story tells of his everyday life; his turbulent relations with the Earls of Orkney and Caithness and the Kings of Scotland; his shifting alliances and fortunes; and his viking raids around the coasts of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, culminating in his death in Dublin in 1171. We follow his career as murderer, outlaw, conspirator, and confidant of the great Norse Earls.
The novel pays homage to the ‘Orkneyinga Saga’, but provides an original twist to it and takes it in a new direction.
