The Unbroken Line of the Moon: 1 (Valhalla)

In this savage saga of love, war, lust, and magic set in the tenth century, young Sigrid is destined to be the mother of the king of the Nordic lands that would become Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and England.

A devout believer in the old Nordic gods, Sigrid is visited regularly in her dreams by the goddess Freya, who whispers to her of the future. Though Sigrid is beautiful, rich, arrogant, and matchlessly clever, her uncanny ability to foresee the future and manipulate the present guides her through dangerous politics as a bloody war between Vikings and Christians rages on.

Sigrid’s father wants her to marry Erik, a local king, to secure the peace between the Goths and the Swedes. Thinking she is doing Freya’s will, she accepts the marriage offer, only to find that her destiny lies not with Erik but with Sweyn, a warrior who dreams of dethroning Harald Bluetooth, the legendary ruler of Denmark. Will Sigrid sacrifice her will for the greatest Viking kingdom of all time, or will she follow her heart at the risk of losing everything?

Johanne Hildebrandt is an award-winning war correspondent and author. Her breakthrough came with the bestselling trilogy Sagan om Valhalla (The Story of Valhalla) and her horror novel, Fördömd (The Condemned). In 2002, she was awarded the prestigious journalist award Guldspaden (“the Golden Shovel”) for her book Blackout, which describes her ten years as a Bosnian War correspondent. She was also nominated for the Grand Journalist Prize following her accounts of the war in Iraq. In 2012, she was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences and is the first woman admitted to the academy, which was founded in 1796. The Unbroken Line of the Moon is her first novel translated into English.