Customer Reviews

The Thrall's Tale

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Lyrically written and showing great care with research and historical detail, The Thrall's Tale is an engaging and challenging read. Much of the language is unfamiliar to modern times, but it isn't hard to figure out the words' meanings when put into context with the writing on the pages. The language adds to the authenticity of the story immensely.
Set in 895 A.D. in Greenland, each chapter in the 450-page novel is written from the viewpoints of each of three protagonists, Katla, Thorbjorg and Bibrau.
Katla, a beautiful slave, or thrall, is raped. The tenderhearted seeress, Thorbjorg, cares for Katla during her pregnancy and also cares for and raises Katla's daughter, Bibrau. Bibrau is born mute, and is hated by her mother and soon becomes to be seen by others as either an evil curse or a changeling. She quickly learns to twist the Norse wisdom and mysticism Thorbjorg teaches her to cause tragedy for all around.
The novel covers the introduction of Christianity to a pagan shores, which adds yet another layer of intrigue and drama to the story. The introduction of Christianity brings some hope of a better future for Katla, who has always worn, but hidden her mother's rosary. Katla's life has not all been painful and difficult, however, she has the love of Ossur, a man who treats her with gentleness, and now the promise of a God who forgives trespasses and tells of hope.
This isn't a book you will sit down and finish in one reading. There is much to follow, the language is one most are not used to, and the detailed history, heritage and mythology of the Vikings can be a little difficult to follow, although these elements are what add depth and drama to the story.
Author Judith Lindbergh worked on The Thrall's Tale for ten years and her previous work, including a project in connection with the Smithsonian's exhibition of Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga, allowed her to add great detail and many facts to the novel.
There are maps in the front of the book of the Austerbygd or East Settlement of Greenland, A.D. 1000. This brings the location of all that is happening to life. Historical Notes in the back of the book tell the meanings of the history, mythology and the-story-behind-the-story of The Thrall's Tale.
The characters are strong, and real. Katla touched my heart, Birbau mystified me and several of the characters repulsed me (they were supposed to). The scenes are filled with sensorial details, making me very glad I live in this day and age, but these smells, textures, sights and sounds place the reader right in the scene with the characters.
If you enjoy history, are of Scandinavian descent, you will have a special interest in this novel. Or, if you just want to read an enthralling book, The Thrall's Tale is definitely for you.

<Reviewer>Marilyn Dalrymple

The Thrall's Tale is eerily atmospheric, submerged in the 9th century, where pagan gods have not yet clashed with Christian and a great outpouring of the Norse sail from Iceland to Greenland in hopes of a more fertile and sustaining environment. Tragedy both great and small is enacted against the canvas of history and the intimacy of a seer's hearth, as three women, Thorbjorg the Seeress, Katla the thrall and Katla's daughter, the voiceless Bibrau, engage in a battle for daily survival in a world of rapidly diminishing options. Theirs is a harsh existence; at the mercy of nature's bounty or lack of, the women worn by drudgery, Thorbjorg casts runes and offers homage to a ravenous Odin, the one-eyed pagan god.

Katla is a slave, a thrall, her beauty of little use in this harsh landscape, save to spark a small passion for a freeman that can never be: "No woman who is a thrall should dare to dream." Even her limited future is brutally altered by a sudden violence that leaves her stunned and despairing. Given into Thorbjorg's care, Katla remains separate, still a slave, but afforded succor as she labors a child into life. She sees her daughter, Bibrau, as evil and hateful, a tool of the dark side sent to torment her broken spirit. Bibrau feels her mother's disdain, soothed by the care of their mistress, but in her rage, the child grows bold, barely tempered by Thorbjorg, who gradually intuits her mistake in teaching the girl too much too quickly: "Each day she slips further from me, bewitched with her own beguilings, led by a bare, misguiding hand." Yet Bibrau learns, a dark hatred growing in her heart and a burning need to know the secrets that feed her power and her mischief; Katla can find no place in her heart for Bibrau: "Oh, this daughter- born out of my body, yet not of me or any of my mother- this child is a blood-let beast, just as her sire!"

The plague twins descend upon Thorbjorg's dwelling, a wide swath of death in their wake. Bibrau cares for the sick, delighting in the illness of two new Christian slaves, weaving her spells in the guise of solace, revenge sweet as is the silent torture of her mother, now deprived of her Christian friends. With naught but intuition, desperate for comfort, Katla clings to a few remembered phrases from her mother's holy lexicon: "Kyrie Eleison... Sancte Domine", a string of rosary beads clutched out of sight in her pocket. In Katla's entreaties of the white Christ, the seer senses the coming clash of religions. Beset by frightening visions, Thorbjorg offers gruesome sacrifices to Odin in hopes of deterring the future, "a newborn pig, a half-formed goat, a full-grown pregnant ewe". All are blighted by ignorance, superstition bred through fear. Meanwhile, Bibrau watches and learns, feeding on malevolence, drawing strength from vile incantations meant to cause mischief, or better, tragedy for Katla: "Love for her? Nay! What is love but simply useful?"

Lindbergh has crafted a masterful novel, civilization caught in the implacable jaws of history, as pagan gods clash with a dawning Christianity. Through the eyes of Thorbjorg, Katla and Bibrau, the past meshes with the future as change settles upon the continent. Leif Eriksson, Eirik the Red and the great figures of the 9th and 10th centuries are mere players in a drama wrought of smaller lives, ones forgotten in the tread of time, a women's world of seers, thralls and discontented daughters, where hearth and home beget passion, despair and a heartbreaking revenge. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

The thrall's name is Katla, and her tale takes readers back in time a thousand years to a world that is utterly lost and unrelentingly cruel. The year is 985 A.D. Eirik Raude--known in Viking lore as Eric the Red--is leading an expedition from Iceland to the unexplored territory of Greenland. But this is no story about a hero and his conquests; THE THRALL'S TALE is about the women, the silent shadows left out of the Norse sagas.

Katla is a thrall, a slave, the daughter of an Irishwoman who was captured by the Vikings when she was pregnant. Although being a thrall is the only life she's ever known, Katla clings to the vestiges of her mother, embracing the Irishwoman's Christian beliefs. Katla is beautiful, but that means nothing in her world--except that she's singled out for ridicule by her master's son, Torvard. But Katla was named for "the fire under the mountain," and when she refuses Torvard's advances, the results are cataclysmic: She is left hideously deformed, brutally raped, and pregnant.

Thorbjorg, a prophetess of one-eyed Norse god Odin, takes Katla in, offering her comfort and a home during her pregnancy. It is at Thorbjorg's homestead that Katla's daughter, Bibrau, is born. As soon as Katla lays eyes on her daughter, she is reminded of Bibrau's brutal conception, and she vows not to love the child resulting from that hideous union. Thorbjorg takes mute Bibrau under her wing, teaching the girl everything she knows of the old ways. But Bibrau is twisted, perverse, obsessed with revenge, inflicting her whims and her strange powers on whomever and whatever she pleases.

And then Christianity arrives in Greenland. For Katla, its arrival means salvation, a chance for happiness--a way out. For Thorbjorg, it means a slow decay of her pagan rituals and runes and gods. And for Bibrau, it means the opportunity to destroy her mother forever. THE THRALL'S TALE takes readers back in time to an almost eerie civilization so removed from our own, at a time when the old ways clashed with the new, when survival depended upon the will of the gods, and when dreams could be fulfilled or destroyed with a toss of the rune sticks.

Scholar Judith Lindberth spent ten years writing and researching THE THRALL'S TALE, and it shows in the finished product. As a matter of fact, this may be the most authentic-feeling historical novel I've ever read. Her prose reads like epic poetry and, although it took me a few chapters to get used to the antiquated language, I ultimately found Lindbergh's writing to be captivating, atmospheric, and pleasing to read. Her descriptions are thorough, the novel is organized brilliantly (espcially at the end), and her characters are rendered with remarkable sensitivity. Katla, Thorbjorg, and Bibrau narrate the story in equal parts, and their voices are distinct. Ultimately, though, this is Katla's story -- this is the thrall's tale.

Make no mistake, though: I wouldn't necessary call this novel a "pleasant" one to read. The narrative is unflinchingly violent in some instances; there are some disturbing scenes, and the story is a severe one throughout. The novel also requires the reader to pay close attention to detail, and it must be followed closely to be fully understood and appreciated. Nevertheless, THE THRALL'S TALE is worth reading: Lindbergh's decade of research has resulted in a novel that paints a thorough picture of a gritty, almost surreal lost world.

I would recommend reading the Historical Notes at the end of the novel first, especially if you're interested in learning which characters in the book are based on fact. I read the Historical Notes after I finished the THE THRALL'S TALE, and I wish I would have read them first. I think if I had, I would have appreciated more the amount of research that went into writing this book.

I'd definitely recommend THE THRALL'S TALE, especially for lovers of historical fiction. This lyrical, epic novel took me on a journey and inspired me to research its subject further--and any book that can do that is definitely one that's worth reading.

I first became aware of this book from a blurb in Writer's Digest Magazine. By coincidence I'm writing a novel about the Welsh discovery of North America, an event of dubious historical accuracy, but one that supposedly occurred during the same time period as The Thrall's Tale. I had to put this at the top of my reading list.

The prose is exceptional and reads like poetry. The quality of the writing is so superior that I would have kept reading even if the story had been dull which it is not. The tale is told in the first person from three points of view. Katla is a brutally raped slave (or thrall) woman. Thorbjorg is an old seeress who buys and mends Katla. Bibrau is the mute, evil daughter of Katla and spawn of the rape. Katla also has a love interest in Ossur a poor freeman who labors for years hoping he can eventually free and marry her. Meanwhile, Bibrau grows up hating her mother (and just about every other living human) and plotting ways to hurt her. This all culminates in a suspenseful ending.

The setting will be of interest to anyone fascinated with vikings and especially their settlements in Greenland. I disagree with one reviewer who believes that Ms. Lindbergh was unfair to the Norse culture and biased in favor of Christianity. This is completely untrue. That reviewer admitted to skipping through the book and probably missed the passage where Katla--though a devout Christian--was outraged when the priests destroyed Throrbjorg's altar. According to that reviewer, rape was supposedly unknown or rare in Nordic cultures and Torvard's rape of Katla unlikely. This is a ridiculous assertion because rape has been common throughout human history no matter the culture.

The historical accuracy gave the story a realistic feel though I think I did find one anachronism. Somewhere in the novel I believe there is a vague disparagement of a fat woman's appearance. It is a modern standard of beauty to consider an obese woman unnattractive.

The dialogue is entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the insults traded back and forth during Torvard's wedding feast. Tis good stuff.

If I was on a the Pulitzer Prize committee, I would nominate The Thrall's Tale.

Mark Gelbart, author of Talk Radio, the book feared by radio talk show hosts
www.mark-gelbart.com

I was excited about reading this book when I read the write-up
on the dust jacket. It sounded like something I would really like.
It started out well with the story of Katla, a thrall (or slave) on
her way to Greenland in A.D. 985. I enjoyed the description of
every day life for the new settlers. The conflict between the
worshippers of the old Norse Gods and the new Christians was
interesting.

But ... I didn't like any of the characters. I had trouble
following what was going on. The narration is in first person,
split between the voices of Katla, her daughter Bibrau, and
Thorbjorg, the seeress/healer. I often had to go back and reread
entire sections to get the flow of the story - especially when
the narration was in Bibrau's voice.

When I read "The Thrall's Tale" I was transported to a time and place unknown to me. The travel back in time was electrifying. The language takes a few pages to become your own and the descriptions are detailed, but necessary to place you into this barren and difficult land. The historical notes were helpful to understand background.

I recommend this tale to all those who love historical fiction with a story placed in a mystical setting. The battle between paganism and Christianity was thought provoking. My reaction to the characters - intense. I was either intrigued or disgusted by them. When I finished the book, I wanted to know what happened to the characters next.

I loved this book.

Probably one of the most original novels about the pagan dark ages and the coming of Christ into that world is Judith Lindbergh's new book The Thrall's Tale. It is the story of the Vikings who struck out to populate Greenland from Iceland more than a thousand years ago and is narrated by three women - the thrall Katla, the Seeress Thorbjorg, and Katla's daughter Bibrau.

Not only is Ms. Lindbergh a nationally recognized scholar of the period, but her words ring with the ancient music of the Norse; they form a mythic voice which carries the reader into the story of these women through their lives in the bleak and fearfully beautiful land, the terrible icebergs, and the fearsome sea which can swallow up life in the overturn of a primitive ship. Very few historical novels have the depth of a world as does this one.

"Einar owns me." Thus the book begins in the words of the first narrator, the beautiful Katla, whose mother was abducted from Ireland by the Vikings. But even Katla's kind master cannot save her from his son who rapes and mutilates the girl. Now pregnant, Katla is sent to live in the household of Thorbjorg, servant of the ancient god Odin. The bastard child Bibrau born of her mother's bitterness is an evil force who cannot feel kindness or pity. But all is not dark. Love finds Katla: a tender man named Ossur who was drawn to her before her mutilation and loves her still.

The Thrall's Tale is a complex, rich novel. It marks the debut of a true scholar and rich storyteller.

This book weaves together the stories of three women in eleventh-century Greenland - - Katla, a slave; Thorbjorg, Katla's sometime mistress; and Bibrau, Katla's daughter and Thorbjorg's foster-daughter. Each alternates telling the story in the first person.

Unfortunately, I never found myself caring enough about these three people. Bibrau turns out hateful and nasty. Katla is meant to be the sympathetic central character, but I never identified with her. Thorbjorg is potentially the most interesting, and I would have made her the central character instead. She is a seeress (or witch) schooled in the old, pagan religion and its runic magic. As the matriarch of a household in a man's world, and an advocate of the Norse gods in the face of conversion to Christianity, she would have been an interesting focus of the book. Unfortunately, Lindbergh did not choose that path.

The main line of the plot works well but takes too long. The first section, consisting of the transit from Iceland to Greenland of the original settlers, is entirely unnecessary. Other parts, which I won't describe here, also need trimming or deleting.

The book is also stylistically frustrating. Lindbergh intentionally uses archaisms (people "hie" here and there) and pseudo archaisms ("she stood at the edging of the crowd"). She's aiming for the style of the sagas, and occasionally appeals to alliteration and kenning-like phrasings but these don't work. (Having read sagas in both English and Icelandic, I'll claim some experience here on what would have "sounded right.") As a result, the writing style seems artificial and forced, a distraction from the story.

The author's attitude toward paganism and Christianity raises difficulties. In this story, pagan magic works while Christianity apparently does not. That's the author's choice but it makes the choice of Christian Katla as the focal point problematic. Since her beliefs don't "work," she is passive and always acted upon. Again, this feature of the book would have made Thorbjorg a better central character, seeing her powers and social role drain with the arrival of Christianity.

The main strength of the book is its characterization of life in Norse Greenland. While well-known historical characters such as Eirik the Red and Leif Eiriksson play larger or smaller roles, the story focuses on everyday people. Lindbergh clearly tried to get this right, and it feels mostly right. The presence of pagan magic tempers the realism a bit, but in this respect the book shares some similarities with the magical realism associated with Latin American literature.

Overall: I read it all the way through but was disappointed for the various reasons touched on in this review.

I always want to read an author's first book, because I feel that if there's a story to be told by him/her, this is it. I saw a newspaper review for The Thrall's Tale and ordered it immediately. Everything about it appealed to me: first novel, set in 9th century Greenland,historic and yet still a "people" story.
I'm glad to have read it. This was one of those books that transported me, every time I sat down to read a couple chapters. The author did a great job with details, language, research; I really "felt" this place, this setting, these characters.
I gave it 4 stars: very enjoyable read.

In the late tenth century, a group of Nordic settlers made the perilous journey from Iceland to Greenland. Following Eirik Raude's (Eirik the Red) lead, twenty-five laden ships put oar to water and sail to wind. Though many perished, many more landed among the fjords and ice flows to establish their presence in the new land.

Katla is a thrall, a slave, belonging to a prominent chieftain. After being brutally attacked by the chieftain's son, she is bound to Thorbjorg, the feared Seeress. Despite Katla's fears, she and her daughter, Bibrau, become integral figures in Thorbjorg's household.

Nothing lasts long without change. Such is the truth for Katla, Bibrau, and Thorbjorg. Hate, cruelty, plague, loyalty, love, betrayal, forgiveness, and the arrival of Christianity will shape each woman's future in ways only one of them could imagine.

In THE THRALL'S TALE, Judith Lindbergh offers a stunning epic set among a little-understood people. A decade of research into her characters' world has enabled Lindbergh to craft a remarkable tale that is sure to delve into readers' hearts for years to come.

The book is written in three points of view, offering a rounded vision into this ancient culture. Many of the characters given life throughout the novel were inspired by names mentioned in the VINLAND SAGAS. The plot centers around the relationships of Katla, Bibrau, and Thorbjorg, with secondary characters playing majors roles as well. Actual recorded events push the story along and to new levels, while vivid settings plunge readers into the characters' reality.

Some readers may find the use of antiquated speech patterns and unfamiliar names difficult to process, but it is worth the effort. It gets easier after a few chapters, and it soon becomes second nature.

This novel will appeal to a wide variety of readers. I highly recommend it.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
01/25/2007