Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Avelynn” virtual book tour through HFVBT: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher St. Martin’s Press, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
There is something about the Vikings:
Ever since I was a young girl who enjoyed her history lessons in grammar school, you could say I had a healthy fascination with the Vikings. They were painted quite the brogue and rough turnt bunch of warriors of whom you wouldn’t seek to cross if you had any sense of mind about your well being; yet within those whim-some chapters of text about who they were and who they weren’t (as let’s be honest, textbooks rarely were the tell-all place to find truth out of history) a curiosity of mind developed.
I yearned to read more about them and to uncover fact from fiction inasmuch as find a way to seek out stories about them that perhaps softened their plight and plunder on history’s fabled chapters. I wouldn’t have minded a romanticised view of their lives but I would have appreciated truism if it wasn’t brokered to be bent towards violent gore nor of brutality for the sake of it rather than for the authenticity. Vikings at mere mention stroke the coals of memories most of us have about what we were taught vs what we might have learnt on our own accords.
Whether or not, I knew enough about them prior to reading Avelynn is not in question but to have a curiosity about a community of people who enticed me to find stories set around their lives is worthwhile because it is something I was wondering if others were curious about too. I know this only my first foray into Viking fiction, as the only other story I can lay thought upon having seen prior to reading this story is How to Train Your Dragon Parts I & II where the Vikings are seen in all their familiar glory! Lest, I mention how wicked awesome those films were!?
Avelynn
by Marissa Campbell
Source: Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
One extraordinary Saxon noblewoman and one fearless Viking warrior find passion and danger in this dazzling and sensuous debut.
Marissa Campbell’s debut novel is a winning combination of romance, history, and adventure sure to appeal to fans of Diana Gabaldon.
It is 869. For eighteen years, Avelynn, the beautiful and secretly pagan daughter of the Eadlorman of Somerset has lived in an environment of love and acceptance. She hasn’t yet found a man to make her heart race, but her father has not pressured her to get married. Until now. With whispers of war threatening their land, her father forces Avelynn into a betrothal with Demas, a man who only covets her wealth and status. The dreaded marriage looming, she turns to her faith, searching for answers in an ancient ritual along the coast, only to find Alrik the Blood-Axe and sixty Viking berserkers have landed.
Alrik is unlike any man she has ever known, strong and intriguing. Likewise, he instantly falls for her beauty and courage. The two stumble into a passionate love affair, but it’s more than just a greedy suitor who will try to keep them apart.
As the Saxons and Vikings go to war, Avelynn and Alrik find themselves caught in the throes of fate. Can they be true to their people as well as to each other?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1250063939
Also by this author: Avelynn
Published by St. Martin's Griffin
on 8th September 2015
Format: Paperback ARC
Pages: 320
Published By: St. Martin’s Griffin via St. Martin’s Press
imprints of St. Martin’s Publishing Group,
which is now a part of MacMillian Publishers
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
Converse via: #Avelynn
About Marissa Campbell
Marissa Campbell is a published freelance author, and co-author of the award-winning, spiritual self-help book Life: Living in Fulfillment Every Day.
Her debut historical fiction AVELYNN, was published through St. Martin’s Press, September 2015. She self-published her sophmore release Avelynn: The Edge of Faith. She is a proud member of the Historical Novel Society, Romance Writers of America, Writer’s Community of Durham Region, and local critique group B7.
When she is not writing, she is busy looking after her wonderful children, spending time with her fantastic husband, hanging out with her awesome friends, teaching yoga, dancing, laughing, and having fun!
Author's biography updated October 2016.
An excerpt from Avelynn (provided by the author):
Avalon was an enigmatic place,
an island suspended between the lands of the living and the dead.
I opened my satchel and pulled out an earthen bowl. From a small stoppered urn, I poured in enough water until it quivered on the edge of spilling. I made a tinder nest of dried fungus and grass and struck the flint with the steel fire lighter until a spark teased the kindling and it began to smoke. Cradling the nest, I blew on it softly until the glowing ember surged and caught the grass and a hungry flame emerged. I placed the nest carefully under a handful of small twigs. I reached my arms to the sky and offered a silent invocation to the Goddess and my mother’s spirit. I added an extra appeal to Thunor, the Saxon thunder god, Woden, the Saxon god of knowledge and prophecy, and Jesus, the Christian god, for good measure.
My mother and Bertram followed the Goddess, but since living in England, they readily adopted the English gods into their pantheon. As warrior and chieftain, my father—while a Christian—still held a soft spot for the powerful sky god, Thunor, so it was not uncommon to find the gods fraternizing with the Goddess in their worship and rituals.
I appealed to them all now. I needed to know what my future held and if I would be forced to marry Demas. I wanted to know if I would ever fall in love. And for these insights I needed the last item from my satchel—my divining bones. I opened the white silk pouch and tipped the small bleached bones onto the ground before me.
To continue reading this excerpt click the Spoiler button…
View Spoiler »My Review of Avelynn:
Prior to having the Vikings enter the picture, it’s the Saxons who have won me over as I start to alight inside Avelynn; as it’s Avelynn herself who draws me into this nexus of a world on the fringes of war and distrust. Avelynn is a champion of strength for her people despite the fact women in her timescape have lost their freedoms in their right to choose their own beloved. They are given limiting freedoms in regards to have they can live in single-hood but when the age of rite to marry aligns with their path, all rights befall to their fathers.
Her mother left a resilience inside her that gave her an innate resistance to conformity and unity if it went against her principles or beliefs. Her father is determined to keep tradition and order, doesn’t not readily align with her thoughts and viewpoints; granting her only a partial leniency when she steps out of her station. Her brother on the other hand, is still young enough to learn and to grow through guidance of a more unified society where women and men can be seen as equals. He’s a bit in the background as Avelynn’s worriment over the path her life is tracking towards might be one she’s not ready to greet in the coming dawn.
Anchoured to the historical backdrop of the 9th Century, Campbell infuses us with the realities of that day by giving us a glimpse into the ordinary lives of both commoners and the royals; how life at court and a life influenced by power can set your hours differently than those who have to work hard out in the villages and fields. There is a more barbaric legal system, where even a small infraction can be host to a devastating repercussion but it becomes softened by how Campbell fuses her narrative together with graceful notes of historical visual buffering. I prefer this softer edging to historical fiction when the era in question to journey back inside is so very far removed from the 21st Century. Visual aides such as the ones Campbell used inside Avelynn combined with appropriate naming of her characters (ergo, Jorie gave each character in due course an ‘endearing name’ as their a bit hard to say aloud!) rounded out a plausibility for me to become entranced with her setting.
Even seeing how closely she’s bonded to her best friend, Ealhswith felt real to me because Avelynn needed someone to lean on to draw out reasoning towards understanding her father’s position. Never one to sit on her thoughts, we start to see Avelynn’s depth of spirituality and guidance based on her religious beliefs by the intersection of her life with that of Arthurian lore. She has a religion grounded in Earthen Spirituality and practices of rituals* which center her thoughts towards an awakening knowledge of forbearance on future events. The passages set within this scene are naturally felt and keenly insightful of the emotional tax Avelynn has on staying true to her role as her father’s daughter (wherein he would prefer her to accept an arranged marriage) and keeping true to her mother’s spirited resolve at seeking a love mutually accepted by both parties.
*the excerpt above the section highlights her religious beliefs
Avelynn’s retreat away from her father was spurned out of realising her mother’s legacy of giving her freedom to choose her destiny was not one her father truly accepted as being warranted. Infuriated and determined, I believe it was that very day her betrothed threatened her and her father bolstered alliance with him that she truly shunned herself out of his grasp. She found a reason to defy him without yet realising how to go about purporting that into practice.
On relationships and believably:
Avelynn and Alrik are a bit of a Medieval example of the meet-cute where circumstances unbeknownst to themselves are giving them an opportunity to meet the one person neither would suspect could be a good match in matrimony. Avelynn (the novel) is very much a coming-of age story about a young girl whose entering her womanhood at the tender age of seventeen (by our contemporary standards) but with the moxie of a woman a decade older than her years.
She’s finding herself awakening to new feelings and the allurement of finding an equal of whom she might be willing to trust given the manner in which he behaves around her. She’s only known the brutal strong handed mannerisms of her Saxon peers when it comes to relationships between man and wife; despite her loving example of her parents. It’s a truth she’s not willing to compromise and I think when she met Alrik it was as if the light she was seeking to find lit started to flicker. A small inch of an encouraging hope that she might not be as crazy in the head as her peers believe her to be – where seeking true love and true compassion in a mate was possible.
On the Vikings themselves:
Alrik isn’t quite the Viking warrior I was expecting to find, though to be honest anyone outside the precept of who Vikings are known for being outright would have been a pleasant surprise, truly! Alrik leads with his heart but with a mind that is truly rapt for battle. He understands loyalty but his trust in both his men and the cardinals of war is where his confidence lies. He isn’t one to tempt a woman past her own senses nor does he find himself able to do anything that is not proper or honourable. He’s an interesting bloke by half, considering he’s at an impasse in regards to his kin who are seeking wrath more than peace.
In some mannerisms he showed Avelynn at their first meeting, I was reminded of stories I’ve read about the Highlander Scots – both are fiercely proud and grit wit a determined air to battle any sort who try to cause them ill-harm or take back a stronghold they’ve already won.
How Marissa Campbell allowed the era of Vikings to become real again:
Campbell makes the year 869 feel tangible and realistic to your senses, straight down to the word usage and the manner in which she chooses to express the world she’s built for her story to entertain our imaginations. She gives a strong nod towards clarifying research and story driven narrative rooted in the tangible lens where research can guide a reader forward through the grace of seeing what might have been visible in the 9th Century.
The fact that she took key people who lived and placed them inside Avelynn was a blessing to me, as I hadn’t heard of the fate surrounding Judith of Flanders until I picked up this novel! I was sympathetic to her plight because ever since I first learnt of the regularity of arranged marriages are within the court; it was quite easy to find a way to rally those who found a loophole to get around those contracts and set their stars on a course that was right for them rather than what was expected and required.
The feasts of the 9th Century reminded me very much of the Old West where frontier families would come together during Harvest or other social gathering times throughout the year to encourage conversations and reunions. This is one part of the Medieval eras in which I felt society was getting something right rather than wrong: large celebrations surrounding the holidays and other festive occasions that caused for a quaking of felicity. Communities could come together and in their jest, find an commonality that could dissipate their differences for a short bit.
Campbell found a compelling way to tell this story whilst giving you a feast of your own to drink as you re-envisioned this setting and the situations Avelynn finds herself questioning which path is true when you listen to your heart.
Vikings lured me with a keen appreciation for their legacy, traditions, and fierce independence from a young age as I grew up with an appreciation for legacies via genealogical research. I might not be of Viking descent, but oh, dear my, they were something! What sparked your interest in the Vikings and how did Avelynn’s story carry you into their folds?
Campbell responds: What sparked my interest in Vikings? You mean other than big, strong men with swords? I do appreciate a good alpha hero. ;) Honestly, I love this time period. The Vikings were ruthless, but they were also brilliant ship-masters and merchants. They opened up trade from the Arab world to places as far away as Iceland during the Viking Age. They were a fascinating dichotomy—they were spiritual, passionate, and loved a good party, but they were also violent, cruel, and dangerous. They were a fierce and extremely proud warrior people.
Avelynn needed a man who could be her equal. And while there were many a tough, fighting man amongst the Anglo-Saxons, until the Vikings came, there was peace and relative stability in Wessex. Avelynn craved excitement and passion, and Alrik, our Viking hero, was just the right man for the job.
How did you bridge the worlds between Avelynn’s life of privilege and the life of her Viking warrior? Were there historical references from their time period to help lead your pen?
Campbell responds: There were plenty of references in my research detailing the life of the nobility in the Ninth Century. Powerful people tend to get more air time, with more written about them in sagas than the peasantry. However, law charters and church edicts from the time go into great detail outlining the values and struggles everyone, regardless of social class faced. Thanks to those documents, we can get a good idea of how the populace actually behaved, versus how the law makers wanted them to behave.
I also found some wonderful historical women of the period who were pretty spectacular and served as perfect examples for Avelynn. Judith of Flanders, daughter to Charles the Bald of Francia (France) ignored her powerful father’s wishes and eloped, risking everything for love. Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, ruled a country and led her men in battle, winning victories over the Vikings. Affluent women became abbesses and governed monasteries. There were a lot of great examples to help buoy my confidence in setting Avelynn in this thrilling time and place.
Also, historically during this time, the Vikings were raping, pillaging, and conquering a large portion of England. They were feared and despised, and they were insistent. Raids were constant. War imminent. With all this Viking activity swarming around England, Alrik certainly had a good reason to be visiting a remote area of Somerset, I just needed Avelynn to accidently bump into him. Her pagan faith presented a great opportunity to do just that.
How do you think a tenaciously independent woman like Avelynn might have felt about the freedoms women have today in the 21st Century vs the angst of strife she had to champion during her own era?
Campbell responds: What a cool question. I think she would have been shocked, and knowing her, she would have had to travel here. She’d need to see it for herself to believe it. What an experience that would be! I imagine her like a kid in a candy store—hot running showers, electricity, a grocery store around every corner. Her senses would be in overload, too.
Can you imagine if she was dropped into the heart of a city center? Billboards, flashing lights, everybody and everything moving so fast; the noise of cars, music, life; the smell of a hotdog vendor; forests disappearing to concrete; polluted water and smoggy air—it would certainly be a shock, but I think she would marvel and celebrate the gains women have made.
Despite the span of a thousand years, she would still be able to share in camaraderie the struggles that we all continue to face: finding love, fitting in, balancing our need to be socially accepted versus our need for individuality and creative expression, taking up a cause, fighting for what we believe in, standing up to bullies, cherishing our families. Somethings never change.
Did you uncover anything in your research or whilst you were writing the bones of the novel that surprised you?
Campbell responds: I read a really interesting book on leechcraft in Anglo-Saxon England. The author chastised previous researchers who brushed off medical knowledge at the time stating it was ridiculous at best, dangerous at worst. She went into great detail of how the root of the medicines written down were for the most part practical. Yes, she agreed that there were several recipes that were outlandish, but to dismiss the whole based on the presentation of a few was to miss the tremendous wealth of information the texts provided to modern herbalists and doctors. The fact that earlier this year, researchers discovered that an old Anglo-Saxon remedy fought the MRSA Superbug is extraordinary.
Reference: (http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/31/health/anglo-saxon-potion-mrsa)
Why do you think Anglo-Saxon England during this timescape is not often represented in literature? Is it the difficulty to get the tone and styling of life portrayed accurately or do you think there is another reason?
Campbell responds: I’m not sure. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about the period. People believe the dark ages were just that, dark and hopeless times where all enlightened learning ceased to exist and everyone was focused on survival. In some respects that’s true, but people were still going about their daily lives, doing the best they could with what they had. Life went on and people tried to make the most of it.
There is also a belief that a strong woman could not have existed in the Ninth Century, but history has shown otherwise. Women had a modicum of power. Their vote counted at court, they could hold land and chattel and could bequeath them on to whomever they chose. But despite these liberties, women were still governed under man’s iron fist. They could be disciplined sharply (a man was permitted to physically punish his wife as long as it did not leave a permanent mark on her face) and her father or other male family member still decided her marriage fate.
I also think writing tends to follow trends and this time period hasn’t been very popular… until recently. With new television shows like The History Channel’s Vikings and new ones in the works, like the upcoming series based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Series, medieval life is becoming all the rage!
Do you find writing historical persons of the past more complicated than the imagined characters who take a whisper to our imaginations and inspire us to tell their stories? Why do you think historical persons are so tricky to reincarnate through historical fiction?
Campbell responds: You certainly have limitations when it comes to writing actual historical figures. You have to take into account documents written about them, and what the author’s intent was (was it to praise or punish). Did history view them as a hero or villain? But even within those restrictions, there is still a lot of leeway to create them as flesh and blood characters.
Certainly in my time period, there were not a lot of contemporary sources, but what I could find helped me to create specific pictures in my mind—I enjoyed bringing Alfred the Great and Halfdan to life for instance. Some people may read those same sources and derive a different picture. Writing and reading is subjective. There’s a million different ways to tell one story!
What was your favourite scene or sequence of narrative to create in Avelynn where you felt the novel was being written by its own accord and you were simply writing down everything as it had been lived?
Campbell responds: I think the battle scenes were some of the most vivid ones for me. I honestly felt like I was there, on that battlefield with Avelynn, standing in the freezing drizzle, staring into the crazed eyes of Viking Berserkers. That was a real cinematic scene for me. It played in my head like a movie reel. But in truth, all my scenes are like that. I ‘see’ them in my mind before I write them. There’s a scene with a red-tailed bumble bee buzzing around Avelynn’s leather shoe. I could see it, hear its buzz. I watched its flight just as Avelynn did. It’s cool being a writer sometimes.
What creative outlets inspired you as a child to become a creative economist as an adult?
Campbell responds: Growing up I wrote a lot of poetry. When I was younger, I made up love songs complete with catchy pop music. Later, as a teenager, I turned my brooding angst into deep, existential explorations on the page. As an adult, poetry stuck around as an outlet for bottled up emotions and feelings, and gave me an opportunity to play with creative expressions of joy. I haven’t written any poetry in a while, but I know it’s always there if I need it.
What was the impetus which gravitated you into writing? And, when did this occur? Who was your best cheerleader?
Campbell responds: I’ve always loved to write. In fact, my kindergarten reflection sheet announced to the world I was going to grow up and be an author. But it wasn’t until my life settled down, and my children were a little older that I became a novelist. It’s not that the idea of writing a book hadn’t occurred to me before then, but with one thing or another, I had many spurts and starts, but I never actually finished an entire book. Life just got in the way. When I finished my spiritual self-help book Life: Living in Fulfillment Every Day, which I wrote with my beautiful co-author, I realized I could actually accomplish something as daunting as a novel. I haven’t looked back since.
As for my greatest cheerleader, that would have to be my wonderful husband of twenty-four years. He’s always told me to swing for the fences. I hit a home run with Avelynn.
What centers your joy when you’re not creating or working professionally?
Campbell responds: My family is my world. I also enjoy hanging out with friends, meeting up for coffee or lunch. And I love dancing. I was born with a rhythm in my heart and a profound need to shake my groove thang. I also taught yoga for ten years, which helps keep everything in perspective. Life is pretty darn good.
As you can see, I wanted to focus more on the Vikings than the Saxons, as it’s the Viking angle of the story which first tempted me to accept this blog tour. I had no way of realising then, that it would be the Saxon (Avelynn) who would win me over a bit moreso than her Viking lover! I appreciated the responses by Ms Campbell who gave me a well-rounded conversation and happily encouraged my readers and visitors to learn a bit more about what went into shaping this story into a novel.
This blog tour is courtesy of: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
{ click-through to follow the tour & find more reader’s impressions! } This review was delayed due to lightning storms which caused a variety of technical issues which left me offline for the greater portion of late August through mid September, which is why I had to re-schedule my review. After I re-scheduled my tour stop to the last day of the blog tour, I took ill and therefore my review and interview were postponed until today }
I look forward to reading your thoughts and comments on behalf of this review. Especially if you read the novel or were thinking you might be inclined to read it. I appreciate hearing different points of view especially amongst bloggers who picked up the same novel to read on a blog tour.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Avelynn”, book synopsis, author photograph of Marissa Campbell, the excerpt from “Avelynn” and the tour badge were all provided by HFVBTs (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) and used with permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Comment Box banner created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards Badge created by Jorie in Canva. Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
I’m a social reader | I tweet as I read:
#amreading whilst #amblogging my review for AVELYNN #histfic #Vikings novel of adventure! Also editing the Q&A w/ the author attached to it
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 12, 2015
.@HFVBT #bookreview of #AVELYNN
w/ Q&A w/ @marissa_author#histfic Rom w/ #Vikings & Saxonshttp://t.co/5GjPtu5tsc pic.twitter.com/u6VbCmdlyc— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 13, 2015
I'm definitely going to keep my eye out on the next novel of #Avelynn because I dearly want to know what happens next! :) @marissa_author
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 15, 2015
@HistoricalFix Dear me! I read so much #histfic how to break it down!? #AVELYNN stole my heart for Saxons w/ #Vikings! :) #HistoricalFix
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 21, 2015
@ohhelloleah Ooh I am definitely visiting your blog then after the chat! I was swept away by #Avelynn! Sweet serendipity! #HistoricalFix
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 21, 2015
#CSLJBook Also, for Vikings & Saxons, I was most impressed & taken by #Avelynn due to how strong she was writ & how convicting her tale :)
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 22, 2015
#AuthorAppreciation by #bookblogger@pamelafordbooks @marissa_author @KChrisBooks#HistFic https://t.co/bdqfUiCGgG pic.twitter.com/1sY8ft5GOY
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) April 2, 2016
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Leave a Reply