Ocean Road (2017)

AD 883. Olaf the White, king of Dublin, is dead and the dominion of the Norsemen in the British Isles is shaken to its foundations. His son, Thorsteinn the Red, struggles to maintain control of Caithness, Scotland, where the natives are growing increasingly defiant. Life is fleeting and no one knows what Fate has in store. In the blink of an eye, Audur Ketilsdottir finds herself alone, surrounded by enemies and responsible for her son’s young children. Making a narrow escape, she sets sail for the newly discovered land at the edge of the world, where rivers and lakes are said to writhe with fish, glacial peaks are silhouetted against the skies, and the earth itself spews fire. On the south coast of Iceland, Celtic slaves revolt and pay dearly for it. The new land is consecrated in blood. One survives, a Briton who has lost everything to Olaf the White and his kin.

With this standalone novel, firmly based on true history, Vilborg Davidsdottir brings to a close her trilogy about the remarkable Audur Ketilsdottir, a woman without equal in Viking Age Iceland. The previous two installments, Audur and Crimson Skies, were exceptionally well-received by readers and critics alike, with the first earning a nomination for the Icelandic Literature Prize.