Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What were your initial impressions of the book? How did you respond to the author’s tendency to address the reader directly and conversationally? What was the impact of including images of artifacts and photographs?

2. How does Barraclough present the Vikings, and how does she present the cultures with whom they interacted? Did you feel more empathy or sympathy for one group or another? Why?

3. In what ways did the author successfully (or unsuccessfully) balance the job of writing a book that both entertains and informs? Reflect on how deeply you engaged with the material, and how it enhanced your understanding of daily life in the Viking Age.

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The author compares Norse Greenlandic settlement to colonizing the moon. How do you think it must have felt for those settlers arriving in that marginal environment? Have you ever had a similar experience?

2. Discuss how the book’s depiction of family life, gender roles, and personal habits relates to your own experiences. Who might you have been if you lived within the sphere of

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