HighBridge Audio

Skip to Main Content »

Category Navigation:

Search Site
 

The Long Ships

Audiobook
Fiction: Historical Fiction
Unabridged   20 hour(s)
Publication date: 12/05/2017

The Long Ships

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Audio CD ISBN:9781681688954
Digital Download ISBN:9781681688961

Summary

Frans Gunnar Bengtsson's The Long Ships resurrects the fantastic world of the tenth century AD when the Vikings roamed and rampaged from the northern fastnesses of Scandinavia down to the Mediterranean.

Be the first to review this product
Email to a Friend


Product Description

Bengtsson's hero, Red Orm—canny, courageous, and above all lucky—is only a boy when he is abducted from his Danish home by the Vikings and made to take his place at the oars of their dragon-prowed ships. Orm is then captured by the Moors in Spain, where he is initiated into the pleasures of the senses and fights for the Caliph of Cordova. Escaping from captivity, Orm washes up in Ireland, where he marvels at those epicene creatures, the Christian monks, and from which he then moves on to play an ever more important part in the intrigues of the various Scandinavian kings and clans and dependencies. Eventually, Orm contributes to the Viking defeat of the army of the king of England and returns home an off-the-cuff Christian and a very rich man, though back on his native turf new trials and tribulations will test his cunning and determination.

Packed with pitched battles and blood feuds and told throughout with wit and high spirits, Bengtsson's book is a splendid adventure that features one of the most unexpectedly winning heroes in modern fiction.

Reviews/Praise

"The literary equivalent of an action- and intrigue-filled adventure movie that won't insult your intelligence...Orm is a charismatic character, and Bengtsson is an infectiously enthusiastic and surprisingly funny writer - even readers with zero interest in the Europe of a millennium ago will want to keep turning the pages. All novels should be so lucky as to age this well."—NPR

"Offers lusty Vikings lusting and looting, bedding and battling across Europe from the Ebro to the Dneiper."—Time Magazine

"This extraordinary saga of epic adventure on land and sea...is a masterpiece of historical fiction...Not least of the rewards of reading Mr. Bengtsson's gorgeous romance is the sly humor that is sprinkled through it." —Orville Prescott, The New York Times

Author Bio

Frans G. Bengtsson (1894–1954) was born and raised in the southern Swedish province of Skåne. His early writings, including a doctoral thesis on Geoffrey Chaucer and two volumes of poetry written in what were considered antiquated verse forms, revealed a career-long interest in historical literary modes and themes.