Desperate to atone for a lifetime of sin, Earl Rogenvaldr of Orkneyinga undertakes a Christian pilgrimage from Norway to Jerusalem. To finance his journey, Rogenvaldr is forced to do the King’s bidding: pass off a gilded narwhal tooth as a unicorn horn and trade it for a fortune in gold. Despite the dire warnings of his trusted confessor and his own conscience, Rogenvaldr takes the counterfeit relic and sets sail for the South of France.
The Viscountess of Narbonne is just the unsuspecting victim he was hoping to find. Lonely and love starved, Ermengard eagerly welcomes Rogenvaldr into her city and into her bed. When he presents her with the unicorn horn she doesn’t hesitate to pay his price. If only he didn’t find her so captivating.
For Ermengard, the miraculous horn is a golden key to marriage. But suddenly someone is slaughtering the innocent daughters of Narbonne and the people are quick to blame the the Viking horde drinking Narbonne’s wine and gorging themselves on the ripe, sensual delights of its fertile lands. Rogenvaldr and his men must pay for their sacrilege and their sins.
Ermengard refuses to believe Rogenvaldr is to blame. When he sacrifices himself to save his men, she risks everything to uncover the truth. But the evidence leads down a twisted trail of heresy, treachery, and greed. Saving the man she loves could cost Ermengard far more than she ever imagined— her heart, her life, maybe even her soul.
“Ahead, rising above the lagoons, a shimmering dream in the heat, was a golden city. The morning sun cast purple shadows on the orange stones of Narbonne’s towers and battlements. The music of bells, like overlapping waves crashing through the air, rang from heavily carved stone church spires rising to heaven… Is this the Garden of Paradise? thought the Norsemen.”
Wander the streets of Narbonne in Narbonne Then and Now
“The Virgins of the Night, their luminous green skirts crackling and flickering in the dark night, are too busy dancing above the North Sea to notice the death of a narwhal. Pierced by stars twinkling like diamonds, their glowing, transparent veils streak down to the horizon, then flame upwards with outspread arms.”
Enjoy photographs of the Aurora Borealis
“Papa, tell me again where the amber comes from.”
“Beaivi, the Sun Goddess, is afraid when she travels through the dark ocean at night. Down below in the very deep, her tear-rays shine through the waters. She cries until the time comes to rise up into the sky again. Amber is her tears washed up on the shore”
The cold landscape of the Sami people is in Arctic Photographs
“Viscountess Ermengard of Narbonne could feel her sweating right thigh sticking to the wooden seat of the chair right through her silk chamise. Carefully, so that Abbot Don Estaban would not notice, she lifted it up. For five hours they had been negotiating, wrestling, about who owned the earnings of salt, sheep wool, anchovies, rosemary flower honey, and tolls on local roads that passed near both Narbonne and Fontfroide Abbey.”
Explore Languedoc medieval sites in Narbonne Then and Now
What readers are saying about BITTER FRUIT:
“With touches of humor, this entertaining historical novel offers a wealth of little known information about heresy, exotic delicacies, murderous and deviant holy men, and lovelorn troubadours. For my taste, all that is needed for a satisfying and good read.”— Regina Bennett
“The reader of BITTER FRUIT will get a well-researched view of the texture of 12th century town and country life — the sights and details, and even the smells! A great view of the disparity of wealth and power vs. the everyday populace. Here is a window into the historical perspective of what became of the Norsemen after they ceased to be Vikings, their early Christian roots, and, on the French side, the role and rot of the orthodox Roman Catholic Church. And, yes, there is the romance -- complex, tragic and delicious. Read it and it will stay with you.” —Alexander Smith
“Fast-paced and soundly rooted in the historical record and the thirteenth-century Orkneyinga Saga, BITTER FRUIT vividly imagines the sparks that flew when a cold-hardened Norseman encountered the sun-warmed beauty of one of Europe’s nearly forgotten female rulers.” — David Thornbrugh
“BITTTER FRUIT brilliantly renders the cultural intersection between muscular men of the north and the refined, cosmopolitan, Mediterranean culture of the high Middle Ages. Rich and intricate in detail as well as humor, this generous portrayal of two cultures accomplishes a feat found in few other historical novels.” — Mary Crane