CURRENT BOOK

SARAH TOLMIE’S ALL THE HORSES OF ICELAND

SUNDAY, March 3, 2024

Everyone knows of the horses of Iceland, wild, and small, and free, but few have heard their story. Sarah Tolmie’s All the Horses of Iceland weaves their mystical origin into a saga for the modern age. Filled with the magic and darkened whispers of a people on the cusp of major cultural change, All the Horses of Iceland tells the tale of a Norse trader, his travels through Central Asia, and the ghostly magic that followed him home to the land of fire, stone, and ice. His search for riches will take him from Helmgard, through Khazaria, to the steppes of Mongolia, where he will barter for horses and return with much, much more. All the Horses of Iceland is a delve into the secret, imagined history of Iceland's unusual horses, brought to life by an expert storyteller. (Macmillan)

The Seal Woman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2024

INLNA READS kicks off 2024 with Sally Magnusson’s, The Sealwoman’s Gift, a story of tragedy and courage, loss and hope. This fictional story of Ásta, a pastor’s wife kidnapped from the Westman Islands in Iceland by Barbary pirates and enslaved in northern Algiers, is based on true historical events that happened in 1627. Ásta loses her home, her children, her community and her freedom. This is the story of how she survives through never losing what she carried in her heart and soul: the sagas and folklore of her northern land. Magnusson shows us how ‘the eternal power of story-telling’ strengthens our spirit. This is an inspirational novel for all. This month's feature INLNA club is the ICC of BC, who will guide our discussion. Come out to hear two ICC of BC members talk of their discovery of ancestors who were survivors of the Barbary pirate raid.

For spring 2021, the INLNA Reads selection is the novel Burial Rites written by Hannah Kent. The book is inspired by the true crime story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be publically beheaded in Iceland. Set in the early 19th century on an isolated farm in Northern Iceland, we meet Agnes when she is sent to await execution for the murder of her former master.

Meeting were held February 28, March 28, and April 25, 2021, along with a special event on May 16 where Hildur Rúriks of Wisconsin invited two special guests, Maria Ellingsen and Magnus Ólafsson to join to discuss their experiences with the story.

by Vilborg Davidsdottir (Author), Alda Sigmundsdottir (Translator)

When a fleet of one hundred English ships is caught in a horrible storm off the cold coasts of fifteenth-century Iceland, twenty-five ships are lost. For Ragna, the daughter of a respected family and betrothed to Thorkell, her relationship with one of the seamen washed ashore results in pregnancy. Now barren due to a traumatic childbirth and stigmatized as a fallen woman, she is left with no prospects for marriage when the betrothal is ultimately canceled.

A decade later, Ragna becomes a housekeeper to the new English bishop in North Iceland, where passionate and ambitious Thorkell is a priest and steward. They embark on a fervent but doomed love affair as priests cannot marry and Ragna will not be a concubine. Little does Ragna know but her host, the bishop, is instigating the conflict between the English and Nordic settlers to his own gain, with a devastating impact on his housekeeper. As sweeping as it is intimate, On the Cold Coasts is a powerful, enduring story of love and personal sacrifice.

The World of On the Cold Coasts: The scene is 15th century Iceland. The country, as well as all of Scandinavia, is ruled by a single monarch, King Eric, who resides in Denmark. The king’s archbishop, whose seat is in Nidaros, Norway, has authority over the Icelandic church. The Nordic countries are united in the so-called Kalmar Union, and only merchants from within the Union are permitted to trade with Iceland. Yet not many venture to make the journey from Scandinavia to this distant island in the North Atlantic. Not so the English. Ignoring King Eric’s embargo, about 100 ships sail from England to Iceland each summer, seeking out the abundant fishing grounds. They also trade English flour, ale, wine, boots and other commodities for Icelandic stock fish, woolen cloth and sulphur, which is used for gunpowder in England’s ongoing war with the French. To strengthen their interests, the English persuade the Pope in Rome, the highest authority of the church, to appoint an English bishop in Iceland, to assist in them in trade and other dealings with the natives.