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From the Back Cover
At the edge of the vast ice-fields that dominate her homeland, Gudrid grows up motherless in the male-dominated culture of the Vikings. Her only female influence comes from her devoted foster mother Halldis, a witch, who quickly senses Gudrid's own powerful gifts.
Through her father's friendships, Gudrid becomes inextricably entwined with the family credited with mapping out the sea road to 'Vinland' (North America) - centuries before Columbus ever set sail. This historic voyage is the first leg of an inspiring journey, both physical and spiritual, which takes her beyond the boundaries of the known world.
Elphinstone's feel for character, period and landscape is as spellbinding as her ability to examine issues of universal interest. Astonishingly accurate, historically and archaeologically, Margaret Elphinstone has researched her material meticulously - blending flawlessly this historical fact with flights of wild, extraordinary fancy.
Margaret Elphinstone teaches writing at the University of Strathclyde and has recently won a Scottish Arts Council award. She has lived all over Scotland, from Galway to Shetland and has traveled widely in Iceland, Greenland and the USA.
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Customer Reviews
Elphinstone has clearly done her research carefully, and conveys a colourful picture of the day-to-day life of the Viking communities in Iceland and Greenland. However, this is the least of the book's pleasures.
Predominantly, this novel is a triumph of voice: Elphinstone's Gudrid is a marvellous storyteller, and completely convincing as a character. Although always a fast-moving tale, the book is constructed with great care: what we are given is Gudrid's first-person narrative as transcribed by Icelandic monk Agnar, whose own not uninteresting life story is tantalisingly hinted at in his own pre-amble and summing-up, and in Gudrid's asides to him while telling her own story. Gudrid's story is intercut with short italicised passages describing what she chooses to omit; and this device works to telling effect.
Both a ripping yarn and a careful character study, this is a book which should please a wide audience. It isn't entirely uncharted fictional water: there is Jane Smiley's excellent "The Greenlanders", and Canadian writer Joan Clark's "Eiriksdottir". However, Elphinstone's book is different in mood; and the choice of Gudrid as the central figure is felicitous. A breath of fresh air in modern Scottish writing, which still tends all too often towards urban grimness.
Through the eyes of the Gudrid, who sailed first from Iceland to Greenland, and thence to the New World, we are given a vivid insight into a frequently misunderstood culture at a time of crucial change. As Christianity extends its influence and it becomes politic to convert, the power of pagan Gods wanes slowly in these distant lands. Elphinstone gives a detailed picture of day to day survival in this harsh climate, and the rich oral and religious traditions of its people, enhanced by her haunting literary style and a deep feeling for landscape and the ways in which it shapes a culture.
By framing Gudrid's life story as a narrative dictated to a monk of Icelandic origin in Rome, Elphinstone is able to draw contrasts between the syncretism of Viking faith and the more rigid doctrines of early mediaeval Christendom. In addition, compelling questions are raised concerning the very nature of storytelling, as a civilisation based on oral tradition confronts literacy.
A remarkable novel, which deserves to be better known.
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