Raven

Set in the Anglo-Saxon period, this debut novel follows Osric, a young man who has spent two years learning carpentry from a silent old craftsman who gave him a home when others turned him away. When raiders from across the sea set fire to the village, they take his fragile new life along with it, and Osric is carried off as a captive of the Norsemen. Their leader, Sigurd the Lucky, is convinced the Norns have bound the strange boy's destiny to his own, and Osric starts to feel a pull toward the warriors' brotherhood and its sense of higher purpose.

Among the Norsemen, Osric discovers a talent for fighting and a hunger for the same adventure that drives them. His bond with Sigurd grows into a blood oath, and Sigurd gives him a new name, Raven. Yet this is a harsh world where loyalty can be paid back in blood and a young man must learn to kill in order to live. As the brotherhood faces destruction at the hands of Ealdred, ealdorman of Wessex, Raven agrees to a dangerous mission: crossing deep into hostile territory to steal a sacred book from Coenwolf, King of Mercia.

The raid promises more than a stolen manuscript. Raven will meet Cynethryth, an English woman whose spirit matches his own, and he will also be betrayed by hard men, some of whom he once counted as friends. The novel explores the clash between pagan and Christian belief, and a divided hero caught between loyalty, survival and conscience.