Thorstein of the Mere

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Thorstein of the Mere opens in the world of Norse exile and settlement, as Swein's family is driven from Norway after Harald Fairhair's rise and finds a new beginning in the sheltered Lakeland home of Greenodd on the Leven. From that root, the story unfolds into the smoke-dark intimacy of a Northman hall, where Unna tends baby Thorstein among hearth, loom, stored meat, weapons, and carved high seats, while the household's daily labor carries the weight of survival, memory, and family honor. But this is no settled idyll. Uneasy talk of omens, raiding, ships, and absent men gives the domestic world a prophetic edge, and even Swein's return from the sea cannot fully dispel the tension between husband and wife. As the tale broadens, it becomes a saga of local power, inheritance, and identity: settlers debate whether they owe allegiance to any king, estates are divided with public precision, and young men test one another in wrestling, teasing, and rivalry. At the heart of it all is Thorstein himself, whose guilt over Raineach leads to a painful reckoning and then a tender reunion. When he brings her to Greenodd, Unna receives her as family, and the novel turns toward a moving struggle of belonging, culture, and love across divided worlds.