"Far to the north in Norway, where the winter sea has a deep voice and at midwinter the sun hides its face, lies the island of Rogen. I was born on that island, in the year of the Great Hunger, when only kings and earls slept with filled stomachs...Rogen was my father's birthright. For nine generations it had passed from father to son, and no king in his castle had more power than my father had on his island."

So begins this saga of a bleak island whose craggy peaks embrace a little world of its own, of a widowed father who rashly kidnaps an earl's daughter for his new bride, of the vengeance that swiftly follows, of a brother's treachery, of a small boy grown wise beyond his years who survives bloodshed and tragedy to seed his own birthright along with his manhood.

Here is a novel of immense power that perfectly catches the mood of a harsh but heroic people. The sullen forces of evil may beat on Rogen like the swells of the dark northern seas, but like the precious rays of the returning sun, courage, honor and love bring the promise of new life to its sea-swept valleys and meadows.

Erik Haugaard writes: "I have attempted to tell the story of a boy who lived at the end of the Viking period. It was not written for 'youth,’' in the sense that I have blunted my pen before I started. I abhor those writers who have not the skill to keep the attention of adults, and therefore think themselves equipped to write for children. I have done my best, and I leave you to be my critic."

From the dust jacket