Far After Gold [Paperback]

This is an unashamedly romantic tale set in 10th-century Scotland. Our heroine, Emer, has been kidnapped from her island home, Pabaigh, by Viking raiders. In the Dublin slave market, she is purchased by the "silver-gilt"-haired Flane Kentilsson, and is immediately torn between "terror and fascination" as he takes her to his settlement in the West Highlands to be his "bed slave". It's not a case of will they fall in love, but when, and what are they to do, because Flane is already promised to the beautiful, spoilt Katla, only daughter of the chieftain of the settlement - and of course, will Emer ever see her beloved Pabaigh and her family again? Flane and Emer frequently come across as rather too 21st-century. She is as accommodating of his pagan faith as he is of her Christianity, and the portrayal of life in the Viking community veers towards the rose-tinted. However, this story has plenty of sexy romance, a bickering, bantering hero and heroine, a hissable villain, an orphan boy (with an appealing dog!) and beautiful scenery. Just the thing for a cold winter evening! --The Historical Novels Review, February 2009

Ever since Tony Curtis's hawk ripped out Kirk Douglas's eye, and the beefcake from the Bronx subsequently had his hand chopped off in one of the finest films of the 1950s, the Vikings have had a reputation for being a bit on the violent side. Tynedale itself suffered the depredations of the men in the longships, who burned, raped and pillaged their way across the district 1,000 years ago. But in her new book, Prudhoe author Jen Black paints a different picture of the sea wolves from Scandinavia. Far After Gold tells the tale of Emer, a princess from the Hebrides, who is kidnapped from her island home, and turns up in the slave markets of Dublin. There she is purchased by Flane, a Greek god of a Viking, who buys her as a bed slave, much to the chagrin of his spiteful bride-to-be Katla. Given the Vikings penchant for chopping off their womenfolk's pigtails with flying battleaxes while drunkenly munching on a chicken, Flane turns out to be a bit of softie where women are concerned. He tortures himself into a lather of indecision over whether to do the right thing by the woman he is engaged to, who also happens to be the chieftain's daughter, or whether to make an honest woman of the beautiful slave. Although it's more Mills and Boon than murder and mayhem, and stretches credulity tauter than Flane's rippling torso, it's a book well worth buying. Jen gets a bit fruity at times, but it's all in the best possible taste, and anyone who can introduce characters with names like Snorri Longnose and Skuli Grey Cloak gets my vote. All the ingredients are stirred in for a rattling good romantic read - an orphan boy and his dog, a lascivious lecher, a whipping, a sword fight and a happy ending.What more could a reader want? --Hexham Courant, 2 January 2009

This is a heart-warming romance set in the Hebrides at a time when the ancient Norse religion was being eclipsed by Christianity. Two sets of values, sometimes similar, often contradictory, fight to win men's hearts and minds, much as the hero and heroine struggle towards mutual understanding in the course of the novel. Jen Black is a writer to watch. Her turn of phrase can be most evocative, and she uses it to best advantage to create a strong sense of place. This is not a romance set in a blank nowhere where the characters are forced to act out their dramas on a stage bare of everything save the most basic of props. In Far After Gold the setting is lovingly described and it lends richness and texture to Emer and Flane's story. There is the odd minor stumble with anachronism, where the choice of vocabulary might be more rigorous, but word choice is a very personal matter and this in no way impedes the flow of the story. Jen Black knows how to use drama to help with narrative drive, and the conflict between the hero and heroine is kept clear at all times. Towards the end of the book however, there is a sense that the novel might gain more depth if the two main characters and the conflict between them was further evolved. Emer's thought processes become a little repetitious; and it would add yet another layer to learn more about Flane's motivations and the way his relationship with Emer highlights his inner conflicts and increases his self-knowledge. Far After Gold is an evocative novel, the characters are appealing and they develop convincingly during the course of the story. I enjoyed very much. --Carol Townend, award-winning author of the Wessex Weddings Series

Kidnapped from her Christian home in the Hebrides, Emer sees the handsome, pagan Viking who purchases her as an enemy to be defeated. When he takes her back to Scotland, escape is never far from her mind. Her only problem is where to run to, and how to stop herself falling in love with him. This accomplished and historically well-detailed romance from the author of Banners of Alba and Dark Pool is set in the West Highlands in the Tenth Century.