Viking raiders destroyed Wilda’s home. She witnessed the murder of her mother and would have been killed herself if it weren’t for the Viking boy Einar, who saved her from his ruthless brother. The blood and murder left Wilda cold and shorn of feeling.
Eight years later, the heathens return for Wilda. As a captive in the Viking village, she finds protection and silent comfort in the man who once gallantly saved her.
Einar has been cursed to silence by his brother. With the dark net of his brother’s power cast over their village, silence is a small price to pay for his family’s safety. But Einar is immediately drawn to Wilda, and the need to protect her from his brother awakens his Viking courage. Can Einar break his brother’s curse in time to save the village and the woman he loves?
Wilda is just a girl of 11 when the Vikings invade her village. She witnesses her mother being killed but also a huge bear of man killing one of his own kind and then turning on the boy that seems to be no older than Wilda herself. The boy, Einar, saves Wilda and in turn Wilda saves his life as well. She escapes that day and is married off to a man in a neighboring village.
Einar is near death after being cut up by his own brother. His brother, Bausi, tells everyone that their other brother, Arni, was killed by someone in the village during the raid and rather than help his brother Einar ran away and was cowardly. Einar is then threatened by Bausi that if he ever tells a soul what transpired that the curse that Bausi has put on Einar, his younger brother, Sigder and their young sister Gunden would activate and they would all die. Because of this Einar never speaks a word about what happened – nor does he tell anyone that Bausi poisoned and killed their father in order to become Jarl (kind of like an Earl and the leader) of the village. In fact – he becomes totally mute in order to avoid having the truth about his brother come to light.
Eight years pass and Wilda’s new village is attacked once again by the Northmen. She is taken this time and becomes a slave in the Norse’s village. While at the house she works at a man comes to drink ale. The man is Einer all grown up. When he hears her name he is instantly alert and knows exactly who she is. He gets her to realize who he is and though they speak different languages he gets her to understand the importance of silence so will tell no one of that day long ago.
Einar is determined to get Wilda out of the area before Bausi sees her and realizes who she is but he is thwarted at every turn. Einar knows that he needs to step up and defy both Bausi and the curse but he wants no harm to come to her, Sigder or Gunden or the people of the village.
This was a pretty surprising story. I wasn’t sure what to expect but the blurb sounded good and I hoped for the best. I’m so glad I read it! The book was a mix of family loyalty, love, the quest for freedom in many different ways and courage.
Einar had become such a shadow of the man he could be. He’d been such a vibrant youth but after his brother betrayed him and the rest of his family, he became mute and cursed, he just didn’t see the point in fighting back. He felt he could do nothing about the curse and he truly didn’t want to see his siblings suffer because of him even when they started turning against him as well. It took Wilda coming to the village for him to see that maybe there was a way out. His road was definitely not an easy one and it was heartbreaking to see him cut off at every attempt to save Wilda.
The relationship between Einar and Wilda was very tender and sweet. Though there couldn’t truly be what would be described as a romance there was enough emotion and feeling between the two for me to cheer their sprouting love on and hope for the happily ever after.
In the end evil died and love and goodness prevailed and let me tell you the road to getting there was quite wonderful. The book was well done and one I had a hard time putting down. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
