“Smile of the Wolf bares its fangs from the first page. Like a medieval tapestry, the storytelling is rich with imagery. Reader will be lured spellbound into this lyrical and evocative Icelandic saga. It deserves huge success.” — David Gilman, author of The Master of War series
The next great read for fans of the television show Vikings; it’s >killing season in medieval Iceland where dead men rise from their graves, monsters are said to roam the hills, and two men try to avoid paying the ultimate price for murder.
TENTH-CENTURY ICELAND. On a dark mid-winter’s night, two friends kill a man.
Kjaran, a travelling poet who trades songs for food and shelter, and Gunnar, a feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to the crime and pay the blood price to the family. For the right reasons, they make the wrong choice.
Their fateful decision leads to a brutal feud: one man is outlawed, free to be killed by anyone without consequence; the other remorselessly hunted by the dead man's kin.
Set in a world of ice and snow, Smile of the Wolf is an epic story of exile and revenge, of duels and betrayals, and two friends struggling to survive in a desolate landscape, where honour is the only code of law.
“Smile of the Wolf bares its fangs from the first page. Like a medieval tapestry, the storytelling is rich with imagery. Reader will be lured spellbound into this lyrical and evocative Icelandic saga. It deserves huge success.” — David Gilman, author of The Master of War series
The next great read for fans of the television show Vikings; it’s >killing season in medieval Iceland where dead men rise from their graves, monsters are said to roam the hills, and two men try to avoid paying the ultimate price for murder.
TENTH-CENTURY ICELAND. On a dark mid-winter’s night, two friends kill a man.
Kjaran, a travelling poet who trades songs for food and shelter, and Gunnar, a feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to the crime and pay the blood price to the family. For the right reasons, they make the wrong choice.
Their fateful decision leads to a brutal feud: one man is outlawed, free to be killed by anyone without consequence; the other remorselessly hunted by the dead man's kin.
Set in a world of ice and snow, Smile of the Wolf is an epic story of exile and revenge, of duels and betrayals, and two friends struggling to survive in a desolate landscape, where honour is the only code of law.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Jan 15, 2019 |
| Specifications | 416 pages | 6 in x 9 in |
|
Supporting Resources
(select item to download) |
Excerpt |
| Written By |
TIM LEACH is a graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme, where he now teaches as an Assistant Professor. His first novel, The Last King of Lydia, was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize. |
| Written By |
|
TIM LEACH is a graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme, where he now teaches as an Assistant Professor. His first novel, The Last King of Lydia, was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize. |
“Leach’s prose is taut, his characters are richly drawn, and the story unfolds with an Icelandic believable-but-inevitable tragedy.” —Winnipeg Free Press
“A fascinating book on many levels and a thoroughly absorbing read … In Smile of the Wolf, lovers and children are found and lost, loyalties tested, and the harsh reality of long ago Icelandic culture affirmed in a quite brilliant re-imagining of that time and place. Fans of historical fiction and suspense will find it a highly satisfying read.” —Reviewing the Evidence
“A thoughtful, literary take on a world that is more often depicted in a boy’s adventure way. The focus in Leach’s book is not on the fighting, but on the strange, inescapable logic that makes the fighting inevitable.” —London Times
“An epic story of exile and revenge set in the snows of Iceland.” —Sheffield Telegraph
“A poetic, absorbing narrative with many of the same qualities as the medieval Icelandic sagas that it echoes and reimagines.” —Sunday Times
“Through him we understand the pitiless code of honour which drives almost everyone in the story to destruction – we understand, and we care.” —Historical Novel Society
“A tale of winter with a fiery emotional heart.” —The Mind Reels
“Smile of the Wolf bares its fangs from the first page. Like a medieval tapestry, the storytelling is rich with imagery. Readers will be lured spellbound into this lyrical and evocative Icelandic saga. It deserves huge success.” —