The Viking Priest

Among all the legends and lore time will tell what survives through history as true. By AD 1000 feared and fierce Norse explorers had sailed as far as present-day Canada bringing with them an exchange of goods and customs technology and theology. At a time when Christianity was rapidly replacing ancient Norse religion and culture one young convert Brand affects history in more ways than he could have ever expected. Follow Brand the priest as he embarks on unexpected journeys crossing the dangerous North Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea . . . and finally to Mesoamerica and the Toltecs who rule there. Even if he can survive the perilous seas this priest will then have to confront and wrestle with the questions of his own heart. Who do we love and why? How do we keep a sacred vow? And when it comes to love when are vows worth breaking? Meticulously researched this sweeping tale blends fictional characters with the Icelandic sagas and the beauty and contradictions of ancient Toltec culture. Linda Kay Dahlén has lived most of her life in Minnesota-first on a dairy farm in a Swedish immigrant community and now in Saint Paul. As an attorney she is fascinated by the decisions people make when confronted with moral dilemmas. After graduating from the University of Minnesota Morris she spent a summer in Tlaxcala Mexico. It was then that she first visited the nearby ancient ruins of Teotihuacán and the seeds for this novel began to grow.