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Sign up todayWhen We Were Vikings
Narrator
Phoebe Strole
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Length
10 hours 14 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“I listened to this as an audiobook. I loved it! The author presented his characters with such realism, sensitivity and humor. Zelda was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. She has a passion for all that is Viking. She is courageous and smart. Zelda is coming of age and realizing just how powerful she is!”
— Jane • Rediscovered Books
Bookseller recommendation
“I could not put this book down. Readers rarely have the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of someone with a disability and experience their lives in a meaningful way. We rarely see people with Down syndrome or fetal alcohol syndrome depicted as truly feeling, flesh-and-blood people who experience love, lust, heartbreak, and disappointment, who face challenges as they strive for their dream. Zelda is my new hero! She is undaunted and unflappable as she grapples with her dreams and life experiences. Your journey with her will be all too brief, but it is one that will stay with you long after you read the last page.”
— Rebecca Gottberg • Rediscovered Books
Bookseller recommendation
“A beautifully written story of a girl with fetal alcohol syndrome who is looked at by her brother and others as being limited, but they have sorely underestimated her. This book is so well written from the POV of someone who's abilitites are different - it fosters a beautiful understanding and empathy for them. Wonderfully narrated on Libro.fm!”
— Mary • Anderson's Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“When We Were Vikings is an incredible and beautifully written and narrated story featuring a neurodivergent character. Zelda was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and lives with her older brother after the death of their mother. Barely scaping by, Zelda's brother gets involved with a bad crowd of people and Zelda decides she must help him break away. This story is multi-layered and the complex characters will stay with you long after you have finished listening.”
— Mary • Anderson's Bookshop
Indie Next Pick for February 2020
Book of the Month January 2020
LibraryReads January 2020 Pick
Bookreporter New Release Spotlight
New York Post “Best Books of the Week”
Goodreads “January’s Most Anticipated New Books”
The Saturday Evening Post “10 Books for the New Year”
PopSugar “Best Books in January”
Book Riot Best Winter New Releases
“Zelda is a marvel, a living, breathing three-dimensional character with a voice so distinctive she leaps off the page.” —The New York Times
“Heartwarming and unforgettable.” —People
For Zelda, a twenty-one-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules:
1. A smile means “thank you for doing something small that I liked.”
2. Fist bumps and dabs = respect.
3. Strange people are not appreciated in her home.
4. Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet.
5. Sometimes the most important things don’t fit on lists.
But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable—and dangerous—methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. It isn’t long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength.
“A most welcome and wonderful debut” (Tyrell Johnson, author of The Wolves of Winter), When We Were Vikings is an uplifting debut about an unlikely heroine whose journey will leave you wanting to embark on a quest of your own, because after all...we are all legends of our own making.
Andrew David MacDonald grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He won a Western Magazine Award for Fiction, was shortlisted for the Canadian National Magazine Award for Fiction, and his work has been anthologized in four volumes of The Journey Prize Stories, collecting the year’s best Canadian stories from emerging writers. He has an MFA from the Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
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