The Thrall of Leif the Lucky

By Ottilie A. Liljencrantz. Alwin, English-born and free, is taken by Viking slave traders and sold into the household of Leif Ericsson — Leif the Lucky. What follows is the story of how a thrall earns the trust of his master, and then a place in the boldest venture of the age: the voyage west, to lands no European had seen.

Running beneath the adventure is the harder story of Leif’s promise to King Olaf, and his attempt to bring his father Eric the Red to the Faith at a time when Christianity was forbidden in Greenland. Written in the style of the Norse sagas, it captures a people at the turning point of their conversion.

First published in 1902 and read by generations since. Best for older children and teens, and a good companion to any study of the Norse world or the discovery of the Americas.