Review – Embers of the Hands [Emma Barraclough]

Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Ageby Eleanor BarracloughGenres: History, Non-fiction Pages: 384 Rating: Synopsis: A new and original history of the Viking Age, told through the objects that defined the lives of its people - from powerful leaders to naughty teenagers Imagine a Viking, and a certain image springs to mind: a nameless, faceless warrior, leaping ashore from a longboat, and ready to terrorise the hapless local population of a northern European country. Yet while such characters define the Viking Age today, they were in the minority. This is the history of all the other people - children, enslaved people, seers, artisans, travellers, writers - who inhabited the medieval Nordic world. Encompassing not just Norway, Denmark and Sweden, but also Iceland, Greenland, parts of the British Isles, Continental Europe and Russia, this is a history of a Viking Age filled with real people of different ages, genders and ethnicities, as told through the traces that…

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