and the North is in turmoil. King Harald Fairhair has died, leaving the High Seat of the realm to his murderous son, Erik Bloodaxe. To solidify his claim, Erik ruthlessly disposes of all claimants to his throne, save one: his youngest brother Hakon.Erik's surviving enemies send a ship to Wessex, where the Christian court of King Athelstan is raising Hakon. Unable to avoid his fate, he returns to the Viking North to face his brother and claim his birthright, only to discover that victory will demand sacrifices beyond his wildest nightmares.I was swept up in the action and enthralled by the descriptions of Hakon’s struggle. -Roundtable Reviews-I highly recommend this historical fiction novel, both for its entertaining story and historical information. -Historical Fiction Review-

    An Endless Exile is the story of the eleventh century hero, Hereward "the Wake," the only Englishman to have defied and defeated William the Conqueror. Torfrida is thirty-two years old, cynical, secretive, confident of her own wisdom and learning. Yet even she is taken by surprise when Hereward is brutally killed by his Norman guests. Lonely and embittered, it is with reluctance that she remembers the past, from her first childhood meeting with the tumultuous Hereward, through their stormy courtship and Hereward's military adventures as mercenary and as patriot - which she shared - up to the unforgivable betrayal which parted them. Even more reluctantly does Torfrida begin to question Hereward's murder, eventually seeking the elusive truth with a desperation that mirrors her own unacknowledged need to believe in him and the value of their marriage. But the truth only leads her into greater danger, threatening her unexpected new happiness in the very moment of its discovery.

    This volume provides a general outline of the methods of shoemaking, sheath and scabbard making and the decorative techniques employed, as well as detailed descriptions of the leather items themselves. Also included is a summary of the Anglo-Scandinavian shoe and sheath assemblages in context to the Anglo-Saxon background and contemporary material elsewhere in the British Isles, as well as similarities between York leather assemblages and those recovered throughout north-west Europe.