Christina Courtenay

The hidden past – in which Christina Courtenay follows in the steps of the Vikings

Lately, my reading has included several books set in the 9th to 11th century, a period of time that comes to us as vague echoes through the mists of time. One of my recent reads is Hidden in the Mists, Christina Courtenay’s excellent dual time line book (more of that below) Her book made me …

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Visiting with Vikings – of Birka, shield maidens, and a brand-new release

Some weeks ago, I visited Birka. Okay, so for many of you, the name does not lead to an immediate “Oh. Birka! I’d love to visit some day.” Understandable, as Birka is nothing if not understated. In fact, stepping ashore the island Björkö in the Stockholm archipelago where Birka is located is more or less …

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Glory and Gore – or how the 17th century inspired Christina to write fiction spiced with time-slip

Taa-daa! Time for guest number two in my 17th century fest. Today’s guest has a thing about Prince Rupert. I most definitely do NOT – but I’ve decided to forgive Christina for this, as I suspect it is mostly Rupert’s long locks that set her heart a-flutter. I met Christina in 2012. There I was, …

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Spelling it out in Viking times – a post about runes

Today, I’ve invited Christina Courtenay over to share some information on runes, the Viking way of writing. Up here in Sweden, we have a number of runestones standing like silent sentinels over those that came long before us. These days, we consider them precious remnants of our past, some generations ago, they were viewed with …

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A superstitious author and her work

A couple of years ago, I attended a Writer’s conference in York. One of the ladies who stuck out was Christina Courtenay (fantastic hair; still jealous of it) who at the time had just recently published her book Trade Winds. It was sort of odd to realise that Christina spoke Swedish, had a thing about …

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