The Soul Thief
"Cecelia Holland moves through history like a sorceress with a time machine." – Richmond Times Dispatch
They were one soul in two bodies, Corban and Mav, twins born to the lord of a Irish coastal farmstead. Mav had the Second Sight, and was her father's delight; Corban, though, was a deep disappointment, finally exiled for refusing his father's command to go and take up a sword for the High King.
But on the night of Corban's exile, as he slept in the woods and brooded on injustice, the dreadful dragon ships of the Vikings bore down on his home with fire and the sword. The farm was plundered and burned; all the people were slain, save the young women – they were raped and dragged off to a life of slavery.
From the coast of Ireland to the occupied village of Dublin, across the Irish Sea to a Viking stronghold in Britain, and then across the sea to the Kingdom of the Danes, Corban is drawn in the track of his ravaged sister, fighting for his own life and to earn the influence and money he will need to buy her freedom. His quest is not hopeless, for Mav's second sight, made stronger by the dreadful fate that has befallen her, has brought her to the attention of the Lady of Hedeby. The Lady, wealthy and influential in the Kingdom of the Danes, has bought Mav; she intends to use the twins, and their link with each other, to extend that influence far beyond Hedeby.
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Cecelia Holland
Cecelia Holland (born 1943) began writing at age 12, and had finished three novels by 17! She received a BA from Connecticut College and briefly attended grad school at Columbia University, but dropped out to work in a bookstore in Manhattan. She published first novel Firedrake in 1966 and has been a full-time writer ever since.
Though she is the author of one out-and-out SF novel, Floating Worlds (1976), most of Cecelia Holland's more than two dozen books are historical fiction, set in a wide variety of times and places. Her historical novels, some of which contain fantastic elements, include Rakóssy (1967), Two Ravens (1977), The Bear Flag (1990) and many others. Recent books include historical fantasy The Angel and the Sword (2000), and a historical fantasy series about Vikings and the New World in the tenth century: The Soul Thief (2002), The Witches' Kitchen (2004), The Serpent Dreams (2005) and Varanger (2008).
The Soul Thief
The Soul Thief consists of four books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
