The Thrall's Tale

Lindbergh's epic debut novel chronicles the early Viking colonies in Greenland through the eyes of the embattled female denizens. Katla, the titular thrall born to a Christian Irishwoman enslaved in a Viking raid, emigrates with her master from Iceland to Greenland in A.D. 985. Katla's rosary sets her apart from the pagan Norse, and her beauty brings the unwelcome attention of her master's eldest son, Torvard. After he violently rapes her, she is bought and nursed back to health by the compassionate seeress Thorbjorg and eventually gives birth to a daughter, Bibrau. The three women alternately narrate the tale: Thorbjorg teaches Bibrau her mystic Norse wisdom even as she foresees the end of her way of life; Katla longs for her gentle lover Ossur and the chance to practice her Christian faith; and Bibrau, despised by her mother and mute from birth, becomes obsessed with revenge, turning Thorbjorg's wisdom against her. The final third of the book charts the conversion of the Norse colonies to Christianity, as well as the unfolding tragedies of the characters' lives. Lindbergh's language is occasionally overwrought, but her well-researched and emotional evocations of characters in a time of religious and social upheaval are dramatic and entertaining. Agent, Emma Sweeney. (Jan.)