Even-night – equinox.
Frankia – roughly modern France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy.
Haysel – hay harvest festival
Heddern – a small inner chamber used for storage. We do not know if they were really lockable.
Hedeby – a great 8th to 11th century trading centre on the east coast of the Germano-Danish border.
Hyperborean – at the back of the North Wind.
Ides – the fifteenth of the month.
Kalends – the first of the month.
Mont Jouve pass – we would call it the great St Bernard pass, through the Alps.
Prefecti – senior royal officials and administrators.
Quale rosae fulgent inter sua lilia mixtae – ‘So roses shine when lilies round them blow’ (Ovid).
Sharn – excrement (Scots).
Smirr – a drift of light rain (Scots).
Trowie – an Orcadian world for the otherworldly people who inhabit mounds (see discussion in the Historical Note).
Trux aper insequitur totosque sub inguine dentes – ‘The wild boar thrust its tusks entire into his groin’ (Ovid).
Yole – a small fishing boat, pointed fore and aft, with one or two masts.
About Victoria Whitworth
VICTORIA WHITWORTH is a historian and bestselling author of The Bone Thief and The Traitors’ Pit. Having worked as a lecturer, tour guide, artist’s model and teacher, she now lives in Orkney, where she writes full time.
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First published in the UK in 2016 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Victoria Whitworth, 2016
The moral right of Victoria Whitworth to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN (HB) 9781784082130
ISBN (XTPB) 9781784975739
ISBN (E) 9781781850909
Jacket design and images © Ghost
Author photograph © Hugh Dickens
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