When you live at the edge of the world with a volcano for a neighbour and bloodthirsty warriors who wish to end your existence then a voyage towards the edge of the world is possible. Seeking a new home for the Clan of the Fox. Erik the Navigator with his younger brother and three companions leave Iceland for a land he does not know exists. In the smallest of ships, they face seas which would daunt any sailor and they discover a new land. They find a home but one which is fraught with danger.
Since I began the research for this book I have discovered that it is quite likely that the Vikings reached further south than Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. I have them reaching the islands off the Maine coast. The recent Martin Clunes TV series about the islands of America was most illuminating. One of my readers, Roger Saphore, sent me a research paper about a tribe of Mandan Indians who had pale skin and blue eyes. The tribe died of disease in the nineteenth century but the idea is intriguing. Another, Capers Jones, told me of a Viking coin minted in 1074 which was dug up in New England.
It is a work of fiction but it is good to know that the ideas I created are possible!
