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Sagas of Warrior-poets
By Leifur Eiricksson. 1997
Kormak's Saga, The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome-Poet, The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue, The Saga of Bjorn, Champion of the Hitardal…
People, Viglund's Saga Set in the farmsteads of Viking age Iceland at a time when the old ethos of honour and heroic adventure merged with new ideas of romantic infatuation, each of these sagas features poet heroes, complex love triangles, and travels to foreign lands.In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature,…
the Sagas rank with the world’s great literary treasures – as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled in Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured farther west to Greenland and, ultimately, North America. Sailing as far from the archetypal heroic adventure as the long ships did from home, the Sagas are written with psychological intensity, peopled by characters with depth, and explore perennial human issues like love, hate, fate and freedom.Sagas and Myths of the Northmen
By Jesse Byock. 2006
In a land of ice, great warriors search for glory...When a dragon threatens the people of the north, only one…
man can destroy the fearsome beast. Elsewhere, a mighty leader gathers a court of champions, including a noble warrior under a terrible curse. The Earth's creation is described; tales of the gods and evil Frost Giants are related; and the dark days of Ragnarok foretold.Journey into a realm of legend, where heroes from an ancient age do battle with savage monsters, and every man must live or die by the sword ...The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer
By Jesse Byock. 1990
The epic Viking Age stories that inspired J. R. R. Tolkien and Wagner's Ring cycleWritten in thirteenth-century Iceland but based…
on ancient Norse poetry cycles, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend and sheer human drama. It tells of the cursed treasure of the Rhine, a sword reforged and a magic ring of power, and at its heart are the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires magical knowledge from one of Odin's Valkyries. One of the great books of world literature, the saga is an unforgettable tale of princely jealousy, unrequited love, greed, vengeance and the downfall of a dynasty. Translated with an Introduction by Jesse L. ByockPart of a new series Legends from the Ancient North, Beowulf is one of the classic books that influenced JRR…
Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings'So the company of men led a careless life,All was well with them: until One beganTo encompass evil, an enemy from hell.Grendel they called this cruel spirit...'J.R.R. Tolkien spent much of his life studying, translating and teaching the great epic stories of northern Europe, filled with heroes, dragons, trolls, dwarves and magic. He was hugely influential for his advocacy of Beowulf as a great work of literature and, even if he had never written The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, would be recognised today as a significant figure in the rediscovery of these extraordinary tales.Legends from the Ancient North brings together from Penguin Classics five of the key works behind Tolkien's fiction.They are startling, brutal, strange pieces of writing, with an elemental power brilliantly preserved in these translations.They plunge the reader into a world of treachery, quests, chivalry, trials of strength.They are the most ancient narratives that exist from northern Europe and bring us as near as we will ever get to the origins of the magical landscape of Middle-earth (Midgard) which Tolkien remade in the 20th century.The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason's Tale
By Leifur Eiricksson. 1997
The action of the saga takes place at the end of the tenth century, at about the time Scandinavia was…
converting from worship of Norse gods to Christianity. A masterpiece of medieval literature, the story focuses on two families — that of Hoskuld, a prominent farmer with several sons, and that of Gudrun, the most beautiful woman ever born in Iceland.The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki
By Jesse Byock. 1998
Composed in medieval Iceland, Hrolf's Saga is one of the greatest of all mythic-legendary sagas, relating half-fantastical events that were…
said to have occurred in fifth-century Denmark. It tells of the exploits of King Hrolf and of his famous champions, including Bodvar Bjarki, the 'bear-warrior': a powerful figure whose might and bear-like nature are inspired by the same legendary heritage as Beowulf. Depicting a world of wizards, sorceresses and 'berserker' fighters - originally members of a cult of Odin - this is a compelling tale of ancient magic. A work of timeless power and beauty, it offers both a treasury of Icelandic prose and a masterful gathering of epic, cultic memory, traditional folk tale and myths from the Viking age and far earlier.The Saga of Grettir the Strong
By Örnólfur Thorsson. 2005
Composed at the end of the fourteenth century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one…
of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an eleventh-century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age becoming eclipsed by Christianity and a more pastoral lifestyle. Unable to settle into a community of farmers, Grettir becomes the aggressive scourge of both honest men and evil monsters - until, following a battle with the sinister ghost Glam, he is cursed to endure a life of tortured loneliness away from civilisation, fighting giants, trolls and berserks. A mesmerising combination of pagan ideals and Christian faith, this is a profoundly moving conclusion to the Golden Age of the saga writing.Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov
By Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler, Sibelan Forrester, Anna Gunin and Olga Meerson, Olga Meerson. 2012
'She turned into a frog, into a lizard, into all kinds of other reptiles and then into a spindle'In these…
tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Half the tales here are true oral tales, collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four great Russian writers: Alexander Pushkin, Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov and Andrey Platonov. In his introduction to these new translations, Robert Chandler writes about the primitive magic inherent in these tales and the taboos around them, while in the afterword, Sibelan Forrester discusses the witch Baba Yaga. This edition also includes an appendix, bibliography and notes. Translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth ChandlerWith Sibelan Forrester, Anna Gunin and Olga MeersonRomantic Fairy Tales
By Carol Tully. 2000
The four works collected in this volume reveal the fascinating preoccupations of the German Romantic movement, which revelled in the…
inexplicable, the uncanny and the unknown and, especially, the mysterious world of the fairy tale. Goethe's richly imaginative Fairy Tale (1795) depicts an ethereal underground realm and the marriage of a beautiful man and woman, whose union heralds a new age. In Tieck's Eckbert the Fair (1797) two outsiders seek refuge in the solitude of dark woods to conceal their incestuous passion from the world, while in Fouque's Undine (1811) a water nymph falls in love and acquires a soul, and so discovers the reality of human suffering. And Brentano's Tale of Honest Casper and Fair Annie (1817) portrays the tragedy of a young couple, destroyed by a false sense of honour and pride.The Romance of Tristan: The Tale of Tristan's Madness
By Beroul. 1970
One of the earliest extant versions of the Tristan and Yseut story, Beroul's French manuscript of The Romance of Tristan…
dates back to the middle of the twelfth century. It recounts the legend of Tristan, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and the king's Irish wife Yseut, who fall passionately in love after mistakenly drinking a potion. Their illicit romance remains secret for many years, but the relentless suspicion of the king's barons and the fading effects of the magic draught eventually lead to tragedy for the lovers. While Beroul's work emphasizes the impulsive and often brutal behaviour of the characters, its sympathetic depiction of two people struggling against their destiny is one of the most powerful versions of this enduringly popular legend.Return of the Magi: A heartwarming Christmas story
By P. J. Tracy. 2017
Warm your heart this Christmas with this wonderful festive tale from bestselling author P.J. Tracy - perfect for fans of…
It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street.Emil Rice has a silver tongue and sticky fingers, the only problem is that his charm always gets him into trouble and he's never been very good at not getting arrested. Twenty-two times he's been caught and twenty-two times he's sworn never to steal again, but it's on his twenty-third arrest when Emil realises he may have picked up more than he bargained for. Sentenced to community service at a secure mental health facility, Emil is unwillingly befriended by two elderly female patients who believe he is the final part of a big cosmic plan that will change their lives forever... This heartwarming Christmas tale of kindness, friendship and redemption will be perfect for the cold winter nights!The Resident
By Francis Cottam. 2011
Every year, three million single women in America move into an apartment for the first time. Few of them change…
the locks. Juliet Devereau can't believe her luck: after weeks of looking for a place to live, she's found a beautiful, spacious apartment overlooking Brooklyn Bridge. It almost seems to good to be true.It is... Over the weeks, a chilling sense of being watched stalks Juliet. Strange sounds wake her in the night, the mirror in the bathroom trembles, and doors she thought shut are open. Then the silhouette of a man standing in her living room makes her realise that she's not alone in there. But what's haunting her is far more terrifying than a malevolent spirit; it's alive, strong and obsessed. Suddenly Juliet is caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and there's no guarantee that she'll come out alive...Rama the Steadfast: An Early Form of the Ramayana
By M Valmiki. 2006
Warrior-prince Rama is about to be crowned Young King, when he hears the devastating news that his father, King of…
Ayodhya, has been tricked into banishing him to the forest. His devoted wife Sita insists on accompanying him in exile, but the evil ten-headed lord Ravana has fallen deeply in love with the beautiful princess and steals her away. Aided by Hanuman, mighty captain of the monkeys, Rama sets out across the world to find her and destroy Ravana in a deadly battle. Rama the Steadfast was composed in the oral tradition in about the fifth century BC and has been retold over the generations ever since. With its fantastical characters ranging from monsters to apes, a very human hero and its profound moral purpose, it is one of the greatest of all Indian tales.The Puffin Book of Ghosts And Ghouls (The Puffin Book Of...)
By Gene Kemp. 1972
Get ready for Halloween with these terrifying tales. . . Have you checked under your bed? Made sure there's nothing…
hiding in your wardrobe? Good. Then you should be safe to read this book... Settle down for the 14 ghostly stories...Enter the terrifying world of the supernatural and meet an unnerving array of ghosts and ghouls, including a Victorian child with disturbing powers, two children with a gruesome plan, and a bizarre ghost puppy. These shuddering short stories come from highly acclaimed authors, including: Gene KempJoan Aiken Penelope Lively Michael Morpurgo Ray Bradbury Are you brave enough to make it through all 14 stories?The Prose Edda: Also Called Snorre's Edda Or The Prose Edda
By Jesse Byock. 2005
The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all works of Scandinavian literature and our most extensive source for Norse…
mythology. Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realization that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan era have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.Princess Poppy Fairytale Princess (Princess Poppy Fiction #10)
By Janey Louise Jones. 2009
Miss Mallow has decided to put on a musical show to celebrate the opening of the new school hall. Poppy…
and her class are all very excited especially when they get to vote on which show to perform. But things start to go wrong during the auditions when every single child wants the two starring roles! Before long Miss Mallow is at the end of her tether and cancels the show . . .Forget the bunny trail.…In this addition to the groundbreaking series from the legendary William Joyce, Guardian E. Astor Bunnymund is…
on the warpath.Pitch, the Nightmare King, and his Fearlings had been soundly driven back by Nicholas St. North and company in the first Guardians’ adventure. But now Pitch has disappeared completely—and out of sight does NOT make for out of mind. It seems certain that he’s plotting a particularly nefarious revenge, and the Guardians suspect he might have gone underground. But how can they find him there? Enter E. Aster Bunnymund, the only emissary of the fabled brotherhood of the Pookas—the league of philosophical warrior rabbits of imposing intellect and size. Highly skilled in martial arts (many of which he invented himself), Bunnymund is brilliant, logical, and a tunnel-digger extraordinaire. If the Guardians need paths near the Earth’s core, he’s their Pooka. He’s also armed with magnificent weapons of an oval-sort, and might just be able to help in the quest for the second piece of the Moonclipper.This second book in The Guardians series is about much more than fixing a few rotten eggs—it brings the Guardians one step closer to defeating Pitch!The debris from the night before is scattered underneath the village tree and across the cobbles. Red wine stains the…
ground like blood. And Joni has vanished.Joni Blackwood is my best friend. She was there for my first crush, stood beside me at my wedding, watched my daughter grow up. She's been there through the painful mess of the divorce, too. So when she suddenly goes missing on All Gallows' Eve, I'm first to raise the alarm.People outside the village say she must have been sacrificed in some pagan ritual. But All Gallows' Eve isn't like that. We're just simple folk enjoying an annual bonfire to keep an old tradition alive. It's mulled cider and local mums running charity bake sales to be in with a chance of winning Gallows Queen. Joni wins every year.My mum used to say this village was built on the roots of The Gallows Tree, that they're underneath the ground, under all of our houses. It used to scare me as a kid. Thick, snaking roots squirming under me. No matter how far you ran, they could tunnel after you. And when the bones of a small child are unearthed in the church graveyard, I have to wonder how many secrets are running through our village, like the roots of the tree. And I wonder if Joni can really outrun hers. And I wonder if I can really outrun mine.The Vanishing of Joni Blackwood is an utterly compelling mystery with a twist you won't see coming. Perfect for fans of C J Tudor, Caroline Mitchell and Erin Kelly.'This is an absolute page-turner, I'm actually on pins waiting for the story to unfold and my anxiety is through…
the roof. And what a jaw-swinging, heart-palpitating ending this book has, too! This was an easy 5 star for me.' Reader Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐The debris from the party the night before is scattered underneath the village tree and across the cobbles. Red wine stains the ground like blood. And Joni has vanished.My mother used to say our village was built on the roots of The Gallows Tree, that they're underneath the ground, under all of our houses. It used to scare me as a kid. Thick, snaking roots squirming under me. No matter how far you ran, they could tunnel after you. And when the bones of a small child are unearthed in the church graveyard, I have to wonder how many secrets are running through our village, like the roots of the tree.And I wonder if Joni can really outrun hers.And I wonder if I can really outrun mine.The Vanishing of Joni Blackwood is an utterly compelling mystery with a twist you won't see coming. Perfect for fans of C J Tudor, Caroline Mitchell and Erin Kelly.Read what everyone is saying about Joni Blackwood:'I meannnnn I am currently jaw to the floor. I was not expecting that very end twist!!! This was such a wild ride and I honestly don't feel a review can do the twists and turns justice, you just need to go and read it... Small town... drama... it's got it all.' Reader Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐'Creepy, dark, and twisted!' Sharon Bolton, author of The Craftsman'A brilliantly chilling mystery novel. Super creepy! Lisa's got a really great voice... Strange in the best way. Loved it.' Reader Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'This one is for all the gothic thriller fans... A gripping, pacy read with bold characters, gasp-out-loud twists, and an ending you'll never see coming.' Carly Reagon, author of The Toll House'The plot drew me in instantly and I knew I couldn't put it down until I knew the truth of Joni Blackwood, a very tense and suspenseful read.' Reader Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐