The Swan's Road

In the eleventh century, Cnute, the Viking king of Engla-lond and Scandinavia, sails with his son, Harald, and his shield brothers to Rome. Thrown off course by a storm, they follow the route up the Rhine. When Harald hangs back to assist Selia, a beautiful Frisian woman, his path turns perilous. New found enemies, retainers of Robert the Devil, Duke of Normandy, pursue them. Harald, Selia, and their companions fail to rendezvous with King Cnute, and are forced to travel cross-country on horseback. If Duke Robert's plan to assassinate Cnute succeeds, an invasion of Engla-lond will follow. Can Harald and Selia reach Rome in time to warn the King?

"Pettersen endows his quick-thinking hero with the amazing resilience and determination he needs to survive family treacheries and the brutal "justice" of the time. "The haunting descriptions of Engla-lond in the haying month, Cnute's fleet in harbour, rolling hills, and woodlands ... "
Mary Keane Review