The Battle of the North

We are in the region surrounding the North Sea at the beginning of the year 1000. Ordinary people are struggling to survive in harsh conditions. Society’s elite – kings, nobles, earls and tribal leaders – are, on the contrary, only concerned with one thing: the pursuit of power.

In a society with crude infrastructure and weak institutions, power can only be obtained by one means: the use of force.

In order to get men to perform acts of violence, one thing is necessary: silver.

And keeping them loyal requires even more silver.

In the year 1000, Æthelred is king of the Anglo-Saxons. He has great domestic problems – every region of his recently united kingdom is simmering – but even greater problems threaten him from beyond: the Danes, Vikings from Denmark and Norway, are plundering his land.

In The Battle of the North, Tore Skeie Paints a fuller picture and takes the reader along on a tremendous journey through history. It is the rock-solid historical tale of the real Game of Thrones. Here you’ll find manipulative warlords, allies joining the enemy, and huge amounts of money changing hands, all while brutality and destruction take hold. At the same time, Christianity is spreading and becoming a new aspect in the struggle for power. With this as its backdrop, who will make the best move and who will succumb, disappearing into the oblivion of history?

Foreign Sales Denmark, RosinanteUK, Pushkin Press

Praise

“Tore Skeie has established himself as an outstanding mediator of our medieval history. This impression is by no means undermined by this tremendously well-written book about a violent man who became a saint...Tore Skeie’s language is at once rich and precise...It is masterfully executed.” 6 out of 6 stars, Stavanger Aftenblad

“This true story is like The Lord of the Rings, only better...Tore Skeie is a first-rate author, the essence of Peter Englund and Sir Walter Scott...What a wonderful story this is! 6 out of 6 stars, Dagbladet

“Remember this name if you’ve never heard it before: Tore Skeie. What guts, what talent for writing and storytelling this historian and author has! Just hold on tight: The Battle of the North is almost like reading in a wind tunnel. There is a force to this material that pulls the reader from the present day back through the centuries, with a well-written and fascinating text.” 5 out of 6 stars, VG

“If you’ve never read about Olav Haraldsson before, the thought of him as a saint will seem absurd after reading Tore Skeie’s brilliant book The Battle of the North...A fresh breeze of a history book, extremely well written.” NRK

“In his story of Olav the Holy, Tore Skeie lets the sources sprinkle poetic stardust on his down-to-earth prose...The portrayals of the caliphate in Al Andalus and of the Anglo-Saxon realm in themselves are worth the price.” Klassekampen

If you’re going to read one book that explains the Viking era, this is a great place to start.”6 out of 6 stars, Trønder-Avisa

“A rich and cool-headed depiction of the life around our best-known Viking king.”5 out of 6 stars, Adresseavisen

“No Norwegian writes more thrillingly…a stylist of the highest calibre…Skeie has a unique ability conjure images of the richest detail, everything from chaotic battles to the period’s exhausting day-to-day life.”A-magasinet

“If you’ve had no interest in the Middles Ages until now, by the reading this book, you certainly will…the author creates a vivid narrative without psychologising the players or creeping inside their heads.”Aftenposten

“Tore Skeie has written a virtuoso war story about Olav Haraldsson, with language as its driving force.”

Morgenbladet

“His books are of immense literary quality; he has a grip on the material and a sense for dramaturgy that is the mark of a true writer, not to mention dramatist…The reader is taken along on the voyage into the unknown, the writing delighting in a way that history books seldom can if you don’t already have a special interest in the subject.”Dag og Tid