Viking Women: Not as Different as You Might Think - Medievalists.net

Heather Day Gilbert talks about her book God's Daughter at Medievalist dot net

My novel, God’s Daughter, tells the story of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir. I know you Viking-o-philes know exactly who I’m talking about, but I’ll elaborate a bit. She’s the first documented European woman to have a baby on North American shores. She traveled here with her sailor husband, Thorfinn Karlsefni (“Finn” in my novel). She was a Christian. She was wise and beautiful. And she was the ward of Eirik the Red.

I wanted to base my novel as closely as possible on the Icelandic Sagas. Even though the sagas are sparse, you get a really good feel for the Viking women who lived around AD 1000.

I hope my story, told from Gudrid’s point-of-view, shows Viking women in a whole new light. Forget horned helmets and funky braids. Viking women weren’t that different from us. And they’re worth learning more about.

You can read more on Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir here at:
- Murder Is Everywhere
- The Ages of Exploration
- Travelling feminist (Penguin Unearthed)
- Hurstwic
- Discoveries of the Americas
- Wikipedia