A tale of star-crossed young love set against the backdrop of the Viking invasion of York, from a master storyteller. Tor is the youngest son of Harald Hardrada, King of Norway and leader of the Viking fleet, whose countless victories have been woven into song, his prowess the stuff of legend. Kata knows little of her parents, but her heart yearns for something beyond the small world of her Anglo-Saxon village south of the great city of York. When Tor is sent to scout ahead of the Viking fleet after their invasion of Scarborough, he relies on his charm and his guile to learn the lie of the land and the location of the regional earls' forces, ready to report back to his father. Soon, however, he meets Kata, a caring and capable young woman whose fierce nature sets Tor's heart alight. But these are troubled times. Mistrust and rumours ripple through the the mighty Hardrada is coming and help is far from hand. As the eve of battle draws closer, Kata and Tor must question to whom their loyalty heart or home?
Author
Kevin Crossley-Holland is a well-known poet and prize-winning author for children. His books include Waterslain Angels, a detective story set in north Norfolk in 1955, and Moored Man: A Cycle of North Norfolk Poems; Gatty's Tale, a medieval pilgrimage novel; and the Arthur trilogy (The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing-Places and King of the Middle March), which combines historical fiction with the retelling of Arthurian legend. The Seeing Stone won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Smarties Prize Bronze Medal. The Arthur trilogy has won worldwide critical acclaim and has been translated into 21 languages. Crossley-Holland has translated Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon, and his retellings of traditional tales include The Penguin Book of Norse Myths and British Folk Tales (reissued as The Magic Lands). His collaborations with composers include two operas with Nicola Lefanu ("The Green Children" and "The Wildman") and one with Rupert Bawden, "The Sailor’s Tale"; song cycles with Sir Arthur Bliss and William Mathias; and a carol with Stephen Paulus for King’s College, Cambridge. His play, The Wuffings, (co-authored with Ivan Cutting) was produced by Eastern Angles in 1997. He often lectures abroad on behalf of the British Council, regularly leads sessions for teachers and librarians, and visits primary and secondary schools. He offers poetry and prose workshops and talks on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, King Arthur, heroines and heroes, and myth, legend and folk-tale. After seven years teaching in Minnesota, where he held an Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Kevin Crossley-Holland returned to the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia, where he now lives. He has a Minnesotan wife, Linda, two sons (Kieran and Dominic) and two daughters (Oenone and Eleanor). He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, a patron of the Society of Storytelling and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
