A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR. Tenth-century Iceland. In the midwinter darkness,on the lifeless black soils of a newly settled land,two friends kill a man. Kjaran,an itinerant storyteller,and Gunnar,a once-feared warrior,must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to it and pay the blood price to the dead man's brothers. For the right reasons,they make the wrong choice. Kjaran and Gunnar's fateful decision will leave them fighting for their lives,fighting to retain their humanity as Iceland's unyielding code of honour ignites a remorseless blood feud that will consume all it touches.'Smile of the Wolf bares its fangs from the first page. Like a medieval tapestry,the storytelling is rich with imagery. Readers will be lured spellbound into this lyrical and evocative Icelandic saga. It deserves huge success'DAVID GILMAN.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781788544122Number of pages: 352Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Smile of the Wolf bares its fangs from the first page. Like a medieval tapestry,the storytelling is rich with imagery. Readers will be lured spellbound into this lyrical and evocative Icelandic saga. It deserves huge successA thoughtful,literary take on a world that is more often depicted in a boy's adventure way. The focus in Leach's book is not on the fighting,but on the strange,inescapable logic that makes the fighting inevitableAn epic story of exile and revenge set in the snows of IcelandA poetic,absorbing narrative with many of the same qualities as the medieval Icelandic sagas that it echoes and reimaginesThrough him we understand the pitiless code of honour which drives almost everyone in the story to destruction - we understand,and we careLeach's gift for conjuring up the past is underappreciatedTim Leach is good at ratcheting up the tension
Kommentar