Check out a debut (1)

As I've mentioned before, my friends Susan and Erica are hosting a really fabulous contest designed to promote debut novel(ist)s: Debut a Debut.

Because I love reading debut novels, I've been scouring the list of 2006 and early 2007 debuts and discovering some really wonderful-looking books.

One of those is...
The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindbergh

Book Description:
The mesmerizing chronicle of three tenth-century Viking women whose lives are inextricably bound by fate...
The Thrall's Tale is a masterpiece of historical fiction that follows Katla, a slave, her daughter Bibrau, and their mistress Thorbjorg, a prophetess of the Norse god Odin, as they navigate the stormy waters of love, revenge, faith, and deception in the Viking Age settlements of tenth–century Greenland. Lindbergh’s lyrical prose captures the tenuousness of lives led on the edge of the known world, the pain of loyalties shattered by Christian conversion, and the deepest desires hidden in the human heart. A book that has appeal for readers of fantasy and romance as well as historical and literary fiction, The Thrall's Tale is an absorbing cultural saga researched and written over ten years as Lindbergh immersed herself in the literature, artifacts, and landscape of her characters’ lives and world.

If this sounds good to you, you can:
~ read the first chapter on the author's webpage and
~ enter the contest for a chance to win a copy of the novel (for a list of prizes, scroll to the bottom of this page).

I'm not sure if I'll have time to read the book before the end of the contest, but it's definitely going on my wishlist.