This is an excellent read for older children, young adults and adults alike. The story follows a Scottish island girl, Hekja, who lives in a small village with her dog Snarf who protects the cows. A Viking raid however sees them taken captive and the family destroyed. Young fit slaves were valued by the Vikings as runners and after some time Hekja is put aboard a longship heading to Vinland under the leadership of Freydis Eriksdottir. The Vikings did not make maps so they have only the words of earlier sailors to follow and they narrowly avoid icebergs on the long rough journey. Snarf's nose alerts them to land and they make landfall near an abandoned cluster of longhouses. Not only the natives might be unfriendly as there are undercurrents within the expedition, and Hekja just has to rely on her owner to protect her.Another slave, Hikki, teaches Hekja how to run efficiently over long distances and since he cannot marry a Viking, we see him looking thoughtfully at the young girl and picturing their future. The colony gets established but the native people, who initially wanted to trade, resent the spread of the Vikings and launch their own raids.The world of the Vikings is well realised and small details, such as Hekja's never having worn soft wool clothes as there were no sheep on her island, draw us into her life. There are plenty of dangers but the worst of the violence is suggested rather than shown. A book for young readers set around the year 1000, apparently inspired by Icelandic sagas. Hekja is a 12 year old girl growing up in a tiny village in the far north of Scotland. She is taken prisoner by Viking raiders and together with her dog travels to Greenland where she becomes a slave in the household of Freydis, daughter of Erik the Red. When Freydis leads an expedition to Vinland, discovered by her brother some years earlier, Hekja accompanies her and experiences the beginning of a settlement in the new land, confronting dangers, earning the respect of the Vikings and, of course, finding true love. This is an enjoyable book about courage and resilience. The heroine's sense of self-worth is not dependent upon how she is perceived or treated by others, and this enables her to face bullying by the other girls in the village and overcome it, as well as dealing with and standing up against the later experience of being seen and treated as an object in her time as a slave. Being a story about Vikings, there is a lot of violence. There are also a couple of earthy details that might not be well suited to very young readers. It is very discreetly implied that Hekja witnesses the rape of her mother before seeing her murdered by the Vikings and this memory recurs in Hekja's conversations about relationships and marriage, albeit delicately, on several occasions. There are also a few references to the blood surrounding childbirth, and an attempt at modest mixed skinnydipping. A moral dilemma is posed towards the end of the novel when unarmed enemies are slaughtered without warning, on the basis that it was a necessary evil, however the response of the characters suggests that they are not convinced that the act was morally justified.
Do You like book Rover (2007)?
good book
—belly button
Not so surprising, I loved this book, mainly for the vikings. I really enjoyed the last chapter too.
—sapi
Great book, the ending let it don a bit and wasn't very sad when the person died...
—harshita
This is one of my favourite books. Ihave to say jackie French is a great author.
—heathersitton
