Book
A Night of Flames
In 794, Hunlaf and the Norseman Runolf sail to Rogaland on a Northumbrian mission to seek an alliance and strengthen the kingdom's naval defences. Their journey also gives them the chance to pursue family ties, old grievances and a forbidden book. In Norway they encounter a violent religious uprising led by an escaped slave, drawing Hunlaf into a conflict where faith, freedom and vengeance threaten entire communities.
The uprising forces Hunlaf to distinguish between the mission entrusted to him by Northumbria and the local conflict into which he has sailed. Runolf’s knowledge of the region helps, but religious loyalties make every alliance unstable. The novel contrasts the diplomacy needed to strengthen Northumbria with the violence created when conversion, slavery and vengeance are allowed to define one another.
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