On my father’s side I am supposedly a little bit Norwegian, which seemed very exotic to me as the rest of my gene pool is mostly German. I have had Norway on my bucket list since I was in fourth grade when I did a report on Norway. I still remember the pictures from the National Geographic of the fjords and the lush green landscapes of summer and the snow-covered trees of winter. Even now, some fifty years later, it seems like a magical and special place!

Hartsuyker feeds into that sense of magic with this book based on Norse and Scandinavian legends; retelling the saga of Ragnvald and his sister Svanhild and the young man, Harald of Vestvold, who may be the prophesied king of all the Norse. With great care for historical accuracy she has created a sense of realism to the setting and characters while still maintaining a sense of the mystical past.

Ragnvald, a young man descended from kings, is returning from Ireland with a viking raiding party. With his father gone, his family has fallen on hard times and he is just another warrior with neither his own boat or land to his name. It is rumored that his uncle, Olaf, killed Ragnvald’s father and stole the property, and it is Ragnvald’s hope to make a name for himself as a warrior and eventually challenge his uncle and retake his birthright. But on the return journey, Solvi, the leader of the raiding party who has been paid by Olaf to kill his nephew, betrays Ragnvald and leaves him to drown.

Rescued by a fisherman, Ragnvald is now even more determined than ever to exact his revenge on Olaf and Solvi, reclaim his birthright, and rescue his sister who is now little more than a thrall in his uncle’s keeping. To do that he must align himself with the right people, but there is a change blowing through the political landscape. A new warrior named Harald, is upsetting the tradional feudal structure and trying to unite all the fiefdoms in a larger confederacy over which he will rule. In this treacherous time, Ragnvald must tread carefully and choose wisely, for one false move might earn him an enmity he can ill afford and keep him from ever achieving his goals.

Meanwhile Svanhild must figure out how to leave her uncle in the most advantageous way possible. Usually, for a woman, that means marriage, but Svanhild longs for more than babies and a hearth. She wants to see the exotic places described in the songs sung by the skalds. and ride the waves on a dragon boat. Once news of Ragnvald’s attempted murder comes to her uncle’s holding, Svanhild realizes that she must try to achieve her own freedom. So on the morning of her wedding, to a man she cannot abide, Svanhild escapes and in the process is helped by the very man who tried to kill her brother. With limited choices before her, and with a newly aroused sense of adventure, Svanhild must now face a much more difficult choice: family or freedom.

This is the first in a trilogy called the Golden Wolf Saga and I am looking forward to reading what comes next. Hartsuyker has carefully balanced the historical and factual with the legend and romance of these sagas. She has also been able to lift her characters out of the the limits of legend and gives them doubts, fears and feelings that allows them to become three dimensional. If you like historical fiction, I know you will enjoy this book, just as I did!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Out Of 5 Stars)

Recommend this Book to? Sharon, Marian and Keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.