Circle of Ceridwen series by Octavia Randolph (#1-5)

Requirements: ePUB Reader , 5.3 MB
Overview: I write the kind of book I want to read myself. I write about history as a way to better understand my own times. I write about people who are far better, and (I hope) far worse than myself. And beautiful objects inspire me: the hand-carved combs, skilfully wrought swords, and gemmed goblets of the world of The Circle of Ceridwen Saga. Almost everything interests me

Genre: Historical Fiction

The Circle of Ceridwen (#1)
Young women with courage. Swords with names. Vikings with tattoos. Danger. Passion. Survival. Warfare. Sheep. And Other Good Things...The year 871, when England was Angle-Land. Of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, five have fallen to the invading Vikings. Across this war-torn landscape travels fifteen year old Ceridwen, now thrust into the lives of the conquerors. But living with the enemy affords Ceridwen unusual freedoms - and unlooked-for conflicts. Amongst them she explores again her own heathen past, and learns to judge each man on his own merits. Her divided loyalties spur her to summon all her courage - a courage which will be sorely tested as she defies both Saxon and Dane and undertakes an extraordinary adventure to save a man she has never met. The first book of The Circle of Ceridwen Trilogy, the historical adventure saga enjoyed by thousands of readers in over 125 nations.

Ceridwen of Kilton (#2)
Ninth-century Saxon England crumbles under the onslaught of a relentless foe - the Danish Vikings. Ceridwen, a young woman with divided loyalties, watches as the peace and plenty she enjoys at the Saxon stronghold of Kilton gives way to wary watchfulness. Her dearest friend, Ælfwyn, sold in marriage to a Dane in a desperate bid for peace, travels to Kilton and recounts the events that befell the fortress of Four Stones in captured Lindisse. But Ceridwen is also confronted by Sidroc, the Dane she ran from, and cannot forget. Ceridwen's life revolves around her beloved husband Gyric, cruelly maimed by the Danish foe, rendered now unfit for battle and seemingly, for happiness. At the heart of Kilton is Gyric's brother Godwin, the young lord who struggles both against the Danish invaders and an unthinkable desire. Growing tensions between the brothers mirror the escalating threat to the Saxons from the Danes. Cadmar the warrior-monk lends his wisdom and his warrior's arm to the fight. The Fate of all at Kilton hangs in the balance at a single terrifying battle, as the Danes attempt to extinguish it and conquer the whole people who would be soon known as The English... Meticulously researched and thrillingly brought to life, here is Ceridwen of Kilton

The Claiming (#3)
Sidroc the Dane has been in Angle-land for twelve years. The first nine were all hard fighting. He has won treasure beyond counting, and now peace for his men. But there is one thing he still desires….

The Hall of Tyr (#4)
It is said that every man is haunted by one mistake... The year is 881. Ten years have passed since fifteen year old Ceridwen set out from her Priory home to make her own life. She has known love and loss, triumph and heartbreak. Yet the Circle which has moved about her is largely intact, although the counterpoint has changed, bringing with it the hope of renewed love. Ceridwen and Sidroc build their new lives together on the Baltic island of Gotland, where they are free and unknown. The bond between them, always strong even when years and wars separated them, deepens quickly into the profound and exquisite love that Sidroc had always claimed was their shared Fate. Their new island home is a place of peace and beauty. They make fast friends of the brew-house keeper Rannveig and her deaf son, Tindr, a young man who is both an expert hunter and deeply dedicated to the service of the Goddess Freyja. They work and plan for next year's sailing season, when they hope to send a shipment of rich goods to trade. They feel protected and safe -- until the shattering arrival of the one person they fear most in the world...

Tindr (#5)
Tindr: Book Five of the Circle of Ceridwen Saga The Lady of the Forest, Freyja, the Goddess of all woodland beasts, appears here on Midgard as a white hind. So great is her love for her deer that she herself comes in their guise. None has ever seen her; but if she permitted man but a glance, that is what they would see.. Tindr is handsome, kind, and the best hunter on 9th century Gotland. He possesses a deep empathy with animals, which powers his reverence towards the game he takes to survive. But he is also deaf, which closes him off from the society that surrounds him - and seemingly, from finding love.Devoted parents and friends can’t protect young Tindr from the bully who taunts him, from jealousy that turns murderous, or from the threat of surrender to the allure of the Lady of the Forest, who might destroy him.Tindr’s haven is the greenwood. It is home not only to the rabbits he snares, and the stags and boar he takes with bow and arrow, but to a rare creature of unusual beauty, a source of deepening fascination and wonder in Tindr’s life. His silent world alters dramatically at the arrival of two strangers on the island - the Welsh-Saxon Ceridwen, and the Danish warrior Sidroc. He finds a new and fulfilling life with them at Tyrsborg. But will he ever find a woman to love him? Tindr tells the story of this strange and haunting young hunter, living amidst a landscape of wild, wind-swept island beauty.