On the Cold Coasts eBook: Vilborg Davidsdottir, Alda Sigmundsdottir: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Formats

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle Edition

�1.00

Paperback

�7.64

MP3 CD, Audiobook

�10.31

Audio Download, Unabridged

�9.35

or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The World of On the Cold Coasts

The scene is 15th century Iceland. The country, as well as all of Scandinavia, is ruled by a single monarch, King Eric, who resides in Denmark. The king’s archbishop, whose seat is in Nidaros, Norway, has authority over the Icelandic church. The Nordic countries are united in the so-called Kalmar Union, and only merchants from within the Union are permitted to trade with Iceland. Yet not many venture to make the journey from Scandinavia to this distant island in the North Atlantic.

Not so the English. Ignoring King Eric’s embargo, about 100 ships sail from England to Iceland each summer, seeking out the abundant fishing grounds. They also trade English flour, ale, wine, boots and other commodities for Icelandic stock fish, woolen cloth and sulphur, which is used for gunpowder in England’s ongoing war with the French. To strengthen their interests, the English persuade the Pope in Rome, the highest authority of the church, to appoint an English bishop in Iceland, to assist in them in trade and other dealings with the natives.

Amazon Review

The World of On the Cold Coasts

See all Product Description

Product details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 1016 KB
Print Length: 210 pages
Publisher: AmazonCrossing; Reprint edition (13 Mar 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.� r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B005OC26P6
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,835 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Would you like to give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Vilborg Davidsdottir earned a degree in media studies from the University of Iceland in 1991 as well as a bachelor's in folkloristics and English in 2005 and a master's degree in folkloristics in 2011. She worked in the media for fifteen years as a journalist, radio programmer, and TV reporter but has focused on her writing since 2000. She has written six novels, three of which--"By the Well of Fates" (1993), "The Norns Judgement" (1994), and "Audur" (2009)--take place during the Viking Age in Iceland, Scandinavia, Scotland, and Ireland. Her other three novels--"Sacrifice" (1997), "On the Cold Coasts" (2000), and "Raven" (2005)--are set in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Iceland and Greenland. "On the Cold Coasts" is her first book to be translated into English. Vilborg lives in Reykjavik with her husband and is the mother of three children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review - Cold Coasts 29 April 2012

By Isobel

Format:Paperback

On the Cold Coasts by Vilborg Davidsdottir
Amazon Crossing 2000, English translation 2012

Do not be put off by the blurb on the back of this book. Believe me, it is much more than the Mills and Boonesque love story.

Vilborg Davidsdottir presents the reader with an unspoken challenge to find out more about Nordic countries - Iceland in particular.

She gives tantalising glimpses of late medieval history: economic and political, social and ecclesiastical. I found myself jumping up to check out details of the of the Hanseatic League, the Kalmar Union of Scandinavia and made a mental note to visit Iceland again and find a museum with folk and ecclesiastical costumes, medieval weapons and the material culture of Icelandic church and state. The author clearly has an interest and knowledge of all of these. - Read her profile on page 209 - and that of the translator on the following page.

Christian and pagan myth and legend are placed in juxtaposition to the delight of the interested reader; we hear of Sassuma, Mother of the Greenland who must be propitiated by the shaman by combing her seaweed-hair so that there will be a rich sea-harvest for hunters, while the Scottish (Orkney and Shetland) folktale of the Selkie Woman is given a splendid more immediate twist. I also now know something of The Skaeling people.

True, there are somewhat cloying, Mills and Boonesque moments in dialogue between heroine and hero, although this could be interpreted as Thorkells transparent attempts at seduction of Ragna. There are also certain infelicities in translation or idiom that jar slightly. Read more ›

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Insight into a fascinating time and place 5 Jun 2012

By John Williams TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

During the Icelandic financial crisis the BBC web site carried some interesting 'facts' about Iceland. One of them was that 10% of Icelanders were published authors. This was a gross exaggeration, but it is true that a lot of Icelanders do write and publish books. (Must be something to do with the long winter nights.) So of all these books, you could expect that some will be good, and some will be, well, average. This is an average book that, given its interesting historical and geographical setting, could have been so much better. I don't know whether to blame the author or the translator, but much of the writing was cliched, and the style uncertain. For example, most of the dialogue is written in a natural, flowing style, but it sometimes lapses into the archaic thee/thou when members of the clergy are being addressed, and the translator often selects very modern words and expressions that seem out of place in a story set in the fifteenth century. The book could also have benefited from the inclusion of one or two maps; this would have made the action much easier to follow.

This review is becoming more negative than I intended it to be. 'On the Cold Coasts' is an interesting story, set in a fascinating time and place, and I suspect that it has been well researched. If you like historical novels that are a bit out of the ordinary, then you will no doubt enjoy this one.

If, like me, you are interested in this particular time and place but feel a little let down by this book, may I make a couple of recommendations. Try the original Icelandic sagas, set in the tenth and eleventh centuries or thereabouts. My favourite is Njal's Saga. But beware; they are not novels in the modern style, and may seem a little alien on first reading. Then there is Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth century Norway, IMHO the best historical novel ever written, and the one which most faithfully recreates the atmosphere of mediaeval Scandinavia.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Life but not as we know it, Ragna 30 April 2012

By Michael Watson TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine Review (What's this?)

A slice of life set in Iceland over a period of about 15 years in the days of our King Henry V.

The author has, I'm sure, done her research. Iceland in the 1400s must have been a desolate place, what with the English demanding their produce (mainly fish and sulphur) at ever lower prices and the lack of general amenities.

In the midst of all this, the Catholic church puts its teachings firmly on to the front foot, so that when a young girl is made pregnant by a, literally, washed up English sailor, everything goes downhill for Ragna. She was betrothed to Thorkell who now shuns the very idea and goes off to become a high priest, returning to the island several years later.

It is from this point that the story takes hold. The randy young priest is not averse to a rekindling of his passion for Ragna, nor she for him. The story of a love affair blighted by the priest's quest for power and his need (he says) for other women to quell his lust take their toll, as might be expected.

It's not the rather basic storyline which captures the reader, rather more the way the author fights for the rights of women in a very heavily dominated world of male chauvinism and the descriptive powers which show us Iceland in that period.

Ragna's son is her focus since her affair with Thorkell must not be known. There is a strand of English blood running through the boy, of course and the English feature quite heavily as the book moves on. These traders become pirates almost or should it be these pirates become traders? Either way, armed skirmishes turn into a rather more serious battle with Thorkell leading the way forward to deal with the English interlopers.

It's a small story with a big heart. Read more ›

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes