The Valkyrie

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

*The Embroidered Book shortlisted for the Aurora Award for Best Novel*

From SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Kate Heartfield comes a glorious, lyrical retelling of one of Norse mythologys greatest epics
Brynhild is a Valkyrie: shieldmaiden of the Allfather, chooser of the slain. But now she too has fallen, flightless in her exile.

Gudrun is a princess of Burgundy, a daughter of the Rhine, a prize for an invading king a king whose brother Attila has other plans, and a dragon to call upon.

And in the songs to be sung, there is another hero: Sigurd, a warrior with a sword sharper than the new moon.

As the legends tell, these names are destined to be lovers, fated as enemies. But here on Midgard, legends can be lies

For not all heroes are heroic, nor all monsters monstrous. And a shieldmaiden may yet find that love is the greatest weapon of all.

Reviews

Praise for The Valkyrie

Reading THE VALKYRIE,I felt as if I were meeting old friends again for the first time. Kate Heartfield as taken a story Ive read in many incarnations and still surprised and delighted me. Practically every sentence is a brilliant kenning, glittering brightly enough to match Fafnirs hoard. This fierce and imaginative retelling, full of history and magic, does for the Ring Cycle what Atwoods PENELOPIAD did for THE ODYSSEY
Chadwick Ginther, the Aurora-winning author of THE THUNDER ROAD trilogy

THE VALKYRIE is a richly-told and deeply-felt tale about finding ones place in the world. A sharp, radiant book to fit the women whose stories it recounts. Kate Heartfield is one of those rare writers who always make me feel as if what theyre writing, no matter how fantastical, is true. Whatever she told me in a story, I would believe it. Gods, dragons and all.
Natalia Theodoridou, winner of the World Fantasy Award

THE VALKYRIE sings, like the epic it is, without ever letting go of its groundedness, its bloodiedness. A secret history of the sagas, a story from behind the stories of olda war story, a love story that, once you see it emerge gleaming and gory from those bardic silences, seems like it was always there.
Vajra Chandrasekera, author of THE SAINT OF THE BRIGHT DOORS

Praise for Kate Heartfield

Where fantasy and history meetAn entertaining and dark read
STYLIST

An absorbing novela fine balance between history and fantasy
GUARDIAN

Spellbinding
JJA Harwood

Beautifully written
Elizabeth Chadwick

Author Bio

Kate Heartfield is the author of The Embroidered Book, a historical fantasy novel out in February 2022. Her debut novel won Canada's Aurora Award, and her novellas, stories and games have been shortlisted for the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, Sunburst and Aurora awards. A former journalist, Kate lives near Ottawa, Canada.