When a nameless Norseman sat down to write the "Saga of the People of Eyri" in the 13th century, the brutal story was already centuries old. Today this ancient tale is masterfully retold in Jeff Janoda’s SAGA: A NOVEL OF MEDIEVAL ICELAND, a rich historical novel of the first Icelandic settlements. SAGA tells the story of the savage rituals of feud and sacrifice brought by the settlers from their Norwegian motherland as well as their new, competing beliefs in a democratic legal assembly and a code of restraint. When Thorolf the Viking trades away his valuable family lands to spite his son, Arnkel, the ruthless Norse chieftain vows to regain them at all costs. Robbed of his rightful inheritance, Arnkel begins a venomous feud with his neighbors and with rival chieftain Snorri, a lawless dispute destined to end in betrayal and death. Janoda’s characters are eloquently wrought, their passions and pagan beliefs brought to life in a tale over a thousand years old. His delicate hand renders fantastical elements like spirits and elves as vividly as their human counterparts, illuminating the harshness of life in a society on the brink of modernity, yet isolated in the farthest reaches of the planet.