A review by caroline562023
Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

 This is a wonderful book of mostly social history based on archaeological finds all around the Viking world. It tells the story of Viking expansion, but also the story of how people lived, died, played and ate, wrote to each other with rune sticks and wore clothing to beat the Arctic winds. The writer is a gifted storyteller and brings this to her history writing in the best way. I will never forget the birch bark drawings of Onfim. Anyone who is a parent will recognise those classic hands with stick fingers like an outstretched rake. The author gets up close and personal to the human faces and human feelings behind the Viking legends. HIGHLY recommended. It was deservedly longlisted for the Women's Prize for Nonfiction 2025.