The Song of Hild - Softcover

“Written with dynamism and grim humour ... there can be no doubt it will reach many readers, internationally too ... a bestseller of great literary quality.” – Poul Borum, Ekstra Bladet

“An imposing, richly detailed and historically vigilant tale, told by one of the most compelling Danish voices in storytelling and gender history. Vibeke Vasbo leads the reader sure-footedly into a world that is recognizable in all its beauty and cruelty, and yet so very alien.” – Dorthe Nors (shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017)

“A story of one of the most remarkable women of Anglo-Saxon England. This is not hagiography, it is a triumphal story of a saint’s passion and religious experience. But it is not for the faint-hearted...” – Sir David Wilson (former Director of the British Museum)

This is a gritty, powerful story about the prominent role women played in the spread of Christianity in seventh-century Britain.

Abbess Hild of Whitby was an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times. In this exquisite translation of the #1 Danish bestselling novel Hildas sang, we are drawn into a world of dark dealings, powerful patriarchy and religious wrangling.

In the political and religious upheavals of the seventh-century British Isles, tensions between the Danish-German invaders and native Celts mirror the power struggles masquerading as religious struggles that reverberate internationally today. In The Song of Hild we are brought face-to-face with the political manoeuvres of conflicting religions, the building of a double monastery, and the power exercised by the Church of Rome.

“a bestseller of great literary quality” – Ekstra Bladet (from a review of the original Danish edition)