Trail of the Viking Finger: A Northern Family Saga Paperback – 26 Jul 2016

This story of the "Viking Finger" attracted me because a simlar type of afflicton occurs wthin my extended family.

"A RARE skin condition known as "the mermaid's curse", which only afflicts a particular family line on a remote Scottish island, has been heralded as the key to the genetic control of skin diseases. Only 29 cases have been scientifically recorded of the condition, which causes skin on the palms and soles of the feet to grow thick and horny. All of the sufferers are descended from the Fotheringhame family, which originated on Stronsay in the Orkneys, a remote island with a population of 80."

Mr Bean has inspired me with this fine novel which I thoroughly recommend., and I am now about to move on to another of his creations "Blood in the Square"

John Bean is an author best known for his earlier works. Ten Miles from Anywhere chronicled village life in Wickhambrook, Suffolk, from 1973 to 1994. Many Shades of Black was an insightful account of the British far-right movements. And Blood in the Square was a political novel inspired by actual events. All of them were partly biographical and contained more than a hint of social commentary. His latest book Trail of the Viking Finger is no exception. It traces the history of the Byrne family from the brothers Bjorne and Ragnar Dagson retreating from the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, to the Byrne family living in Swanley, Kent in 1931. He calls upon his knowledge of history and anthropology to describe generations of struggle and survival. This is dramatic account of ordinary people who suffered the passions and changing fortunes of nine hundred years; a sympathetic study of the Byrne family that is well worth reading.

Six years ago the prolific writer John Bean had an unsuccessful operation in hospital for the swollen tendons and inward curving little fingers on both his hands. It is a rare condition which gets worse with advancing age and is recognised as Dupuytrens Contracture.

In 2012 John had his DNA tested by the laboratory of Oxford Ancestry which is run by Professor Bryan Sykes. The result concluded the Y- chromosome which is passed solely along the male line as being of Anglo-Saxon or Danish Viking origin. In an explanatory note it said that ‘at the present time it is impossible to distinguish between the DNA of DanishVikings and Anglo-Saxons.’

John had previously carried out extensive research into his family tree tracing forebears back to a Brian Beane born at Saxton in Elmet – near York – around 1570. This research together with the report from the DNA testing formed the template for his latest novel “Trail of the Viking Finger”, an historical work of fiction spanning some 900 years based on the discoveries of his own family story.

This is a personal piece of work with members of John’s distant family, the Byrnes and latterly the Lawsons cropping up in a timeline of historical incidents each diligently researched, from the Danish Viking sacking of York through the numerous mediaeval wars, an encounter with Lord Digby the Royalist diplomat and adviser in the English Civil War, the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution through to the bloody battles of the First World War.

The Byrne family were an enterprising, hard working bunch of freeman farmers having risen from the serfdom they endured in Viking days as well as early international traders!

In the 13th century traders were bringing in (to York) “.....wine were coming in from France and cloth, wax and canvas from the Low Countries. Timber and furs came into York from the Baltic. Exports included grain and wool, with a small amount of these coming from the Byrne’s farm in Appleton.”

Just as physical traits repeat themselves in the generations of the Byrnes, a family which is always keeping an eye out for opportunities to advance and better themselves, some neat tropes add layer upon layer to the retelling of the family story. For example, feeding a diseased infant a curious mixture of sheep dung wine, rosewater and herbs ignites a family row in the 1740s but this weird homemade cure had been passed down the generations for nearly 800 years along with other herbal remedies such as bathing a new born babe in cow’s urine to ward off the pox. Anecdotes are passed down through the generations as naturally as the genes which give rise to red hair and twisted fingers.

England’s history is replete with some brutal, harsh and truly terrible events which seem unimaginable to us today with our NHS, our centrally heated homes and supermarket shelves offering everything in abundance. But this is a very recent development and minuscule short time in our nation’s long history. The Byrnes were not immune to such horrors as the Black Death which struck in 1349 and halved the population of York in a matter of a few years. Tragedy strikes across the centuries from murder attempts, financial woes and an elderly lady saving her dear grandchild from a blazing cottage fire and dying in the process and a volcanic eruption 1000 miles away took its toll mostly on farming folk in a forgotten episode of our history.

John does not labour the reader with any pretentious Joycian style prose or lay trails of red herrings. It is a straightforward, easy to read novel which will engage any reader interested in historical fiction. Success and failure, happy births and tragic deaths, heroism and flawed personalities; all appear in the Byrne’s chronicle. It may be seen as one man’s personal family history but it is very much a broader tale of our nation’s story.

From Chris Edwards.
Bean's latest book is an historical novel that is mainly fiction but also partly biographical. This mix made it encouraging for me to read on.
I assumd the title comes from the genetic disorder of Dupuytrens Contracture, where in middle age the little fingers (sometimes two or more) start to curl inwards to the palm of the hand. It affect both men and women where one of their distant ancestors was a Danish Viking (Norse or Swedish rather less so).
Set mainly in Yorkshire and Northumberand, it covers the timeline of one family, the Byrnes, over a 900 year period. This makes it appear a bit rushed in only 240 odd pages. The founder is a Danish Viking arriving in York in 1066, who marries an Anglo-Saxon/Celtic origin girl. The author has obviously done a lot of research in setting the historical incidents affecting the lives of the Byrne family, from blood-thirsty medieval times to the industrial revolution and the Viking-style death of one of the descendants in Word War One.
Although the family tree in front is of some use, it could have been a bit more detailed. But I still give this novel 4 points.