W. D. Valgardson

An excellent blend of folktales of the Icelandic people and the pioneer people who immigrated from Iceland to the eastern Interlake area of Manitoba, Canada in the latter part of the 19th century; to a region known as New Iceland. The series of short stories blend the actual history with stories of the supernatural. Some stories are set in Iceland, some in Canada and some in a linear narrative that takes the reader from one country to the other.

Valhalla is a fictional village in Manitoba on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. A fishing village populated mostly by descendants of 19th century Icelandic immigrants and Metis where the primary industry is the commercial fishery on the lake and catering to summer visitors and tourists. Valgardson introduces large blocks of fact and fantasy Icelandic history, Viking sagas and Old Norse religion into his story of Tom Parsons, a former RCMP officer who elects to leave the big city for what he show more presumes will be a peaceful life in Manitoba's wilderness. Instead Tom gets pulled back into his former investigative role when he finds a dead body on the lake shore. show less

Twelve-year-old Sarah is told by her widowed father that she must leave the Frog Bay wilderness and go to school in the city to learn to speak English, but when the family that she lives with is cold and cruel, keeping her out of school, she earns the angel-like protection of a wise raven.