Acknowledgments

Thank you to Erin Molta for putting Vikings on your wishlist and for all your hard work in helping to make this story ready for the world.

Thank you to Marta who told me to go for it.

Thank you to Jonathan who told me how I described a ship in a storm was probably wrong and pointed me in a better direction by plucking a book from his personal library and opening to the page he thought I ought to read. That I did not take that direction was my own choice and I apologize to readers for the inaccuracy. I liked the drama and theatricality of what I’d written too much to part with it.

Thank you to Nancy C. Weeks for your friendship, which I treasure.

Thank you to Carrie Lomax for unwavering support and an awfully cute Viking ship top for my baby (that he looked pretty rad in, if I say so myself).

Thank you to Emily for watching my older son while I wrote the first draft of this book.

Thank you to Claire and Jamie who first made me want to write a much more satisfying punishment scene which utilized spanking to its best advantage.

Thank you to the anonymous (to me) person who mentioned the tidbit about leper colonies.

Thank you to the copyeditor, J.K., for catching many errors that would have irked an eagle-eyed reader. I shudder to think what this book would have been without the gift of your expertise.

Websites consulted during the writing of this story were mainly The Viking Lady and Hurstwic. Thank you to those in the online community dedicated to providing reasonably historically accurate information (as far as that is possible when examining the past) to the wider world.