The Northwomen

“Heather Pringle is one of the world’s leading science journalists—and in the pages of The Northwomen she allows the ‘other Vikings’ to step out of the shadows and into the light. The female experience of the early medieval North is explored in vivid prose, with a personal touch and a welcome commitment to balancing our readings of the past. Surprising, shocking, sometimes controversial, but always enlightening, this book presents a fascinatingly different Viking Age.” —Neil Price, author of Children of Ash and Elm

“Beyond the epic poem of Beowulf and Grendel’s unnamed monster of a mother is the world of real Viking women, who had names and actual histories. Thanks to Heather Pringle, these Viking women live again in all their glory: no longer overlooked and forgotten but remembered for who they truly were.” —Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and World on Fire

“I Ioved this book! In The Northwomen, Heather Pringle uses her exceptional skills as an investigative journalist to uncover the women of the Viking Age. In her rich prose, these remote figures, often overlooked, come alive to emerge from the shadows of history.” —Birgitta Wallace, author of Westward Vikings: The Saga of L’Anse Aux Meadows

“This book is as vivid as it is thoroughly researched, deftly invoking the many powerful women of the Viking age: leaders, sorceresses, voyagers, warriors, and rebels. The book immerses you in the past; you feel the sting of the salty ocean wind, hear the creak of rope against the wooden ships, and taste the tart grapes of ancient Vinland as these extraordinary women are pulled from the shadows of a patriarchal past.” —Kathlyn M. Cooney, author of When Women Ruled the World and Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art & Architecture, University of California Los Angeles