Although we are only a few weeks into 2025, I have already been fortunate enough to read some fantastic books. This year I am still pushing myself to read on subjects and topics that I wouldn’t necessarily gravitate to, and it’s already paying off with excellent books. This might be a general reading book but I feel like I learned a great deal of in-depth information. Let’s get into Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an Advanced Listening Copy in exchange for an honest review.
Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age, Eleanor Barraclough
In imagining a Viking, a certain image springs to mind: a barbaric warrior, leaping ashore from a longboat, and ready to terrorize the hapless local population of a northern European town. Yet while such characters define our imagination of the Viking Age today, they were in the minority.
Instead, in the time-stopping soils, water, and ice of the North, Eleanor Barraclough excavates a preserved lost world, one that reimagines a misunderstood society. By examining artifacts of the past—remnants of wooden gaming boards, elegant antler combs, doodles by imaginative children and bored teenagers, and runes that reveal hidden loves, furious curses, and drunken spouses summoned home from the pub—Barraclough illuminates life in the medieval Nordic world as not just a world of rampaging warriors, but as full of globally networked people with recognizable concerns.
This is the history of all the people—children, enslaved people, seers, artisans, travelers, writers—who inhabited the medieval Nordic world. Encompassing not just Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, but also Iceland, Greenland, the British Isles, Continental Europe, and Russia, this is a history of a Viking Age filled with real people of different ages, genders, and ethnicities, as told through the traces that they left behind.
Why You Should Read This…
This year I have challenged myself to read from different areas of history, and this was my first pick- it was a great choice.
I am only very minimally familiar with the Viking world and this is a great introduction. Barraclough is a confident guide and leads us through this world that often feels foreign but is really very similar to ours. I loved that she would directly explain how similar the Viking world is to ours, and that the people who lived through this age were no different than you or I. (It is a very common tendency to think of people from the past as aliens, but we need to challenge that.)
I also very much appreciated that she touched on groups that are often ignored/left in the background, including women and LGBTQ people. While the study of history has remained largely male, Barraclough easily shows that “everyone else” (ie. Not males in a dominant social position) were very much key parts of society and that they are just as worthy of study and discussion.
This was really easy to follow, and I felt like everything was explained thoroughly without being dry in any way!
Barraclough also did the narration herself, which I think was a great choice. I’ve said this on the blog before: historians narrating their own audiobooks is the way forward! She obviously understands her subject and the tone that she was intending, and it made for very interesting listening.
Is Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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