The Northwomen: Untold Stories From the Other Half of the Viking World

by Heather Pringle

For fans of provocative history and “Game of Thrones” alike, this revisionist narrative reveals how the little-known women of the Viking era shaped their world.

Until Scandinavia converted to Christianity and came under the rule of powerful kings, the Vikings were a dominant force in the medieval world. Outfitted with wind-powered sailing ships, they left their mark, spreading terror across Europe, sacking cities, deposing kings, and ransacking entire economies. After the Vikings, the world was never the same.

But as much as we know about this celebrated culture, there is a large missing piece: its women. All but ignored by contemporary European writers, these shadowy figures were thought to have played little part in the famous feats of the Vikings, instead remaining at home as wives, mothers, and homemakers.

In this cutting-edge, revisionist portrait, renowned science journalist Heather Pringle turns those assumptions on their head, using the latest archaeological research and historical findings to reveal this group as they actually were. Members of a complex society rich in culture, courage, and a surprisingly modern gender ideology, the women of the Viking age were in fact forces to be reckoned with, serving as:

Sorceresses
Warriors
Traders
Artisans
Explorers
Settlers
Landowners
Power brokers
Queens

Both ambitious and compelling, THE NORTHWOMEN is the true story of some of the most captivating figures of the Viking world—and what they reveal about the modern age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Womens, Feminism, Medieval, Archaeology

336 pages, Hardcover

Published September 10, 2024

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I started skimming during the Warriors chapter and continued lightly reading until the end.

This is a well-researched book about Vikings. Unfortunately, I wanted to learn more about Viking women. We got a lot of information about what the Vikings did, but when it came to what the women did, it was much more theoretical. In the Warriors chapter there were several paragraphs that posed questions like,"Could this be like what the Viking women did?" "Was this also true for Viking women?" And the answer was always "Maybe?" The research on women Vikings is just not robust enough to support a full book. There is too much filler for me, including tangents about completely unrelated groups. It was disappointing.

Also, the mini vignettes at the opening of each chapter were surely entertaining, but they were all completely made up! I wanted this book to pick a lane: nonfiction or historical fiction. If the author had chosen the latter, I think it would have been a more interesting look at the women.

Finally, it would have been really amazing to see pictures of the burials and/or items the author discussed. I spent a lot of time searching on my phone while reading to try to get a better understanding of what was being referenced.

I'm really sad this was a miss for me as it's right up my alley. It just suffers from too little available research and a confusing narrative.

Thank you for the National Geographic Books for the ARC for my honest review.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Northwomen: Untold Stories From the Other Half of the Viking World is a fascinating read about Viking women and what recent archeological discoveries have uncovered about their roles and significance in the wide-ranging explorations, raids and invasions for which their nations became known (and feared). Most of the stories that come down through dna and curated histories of the past are very manly and filled with masculine POVs. But the table is turning, at least a little and there are lately surprising revelations that have women doing more than serving the men of the community in the most basic of ways.

The author starts each section with an fictional imagining (based on discoveries and recent findings) of women of whose expanded vestige has been found in writings, histories and actual locations in these roles as considered in Northwomen :

Sorceresses and Demigoddesses
Ancestors
Protectors
Weavers
Slaves
Traders
Warriors
Voyagers

The Viking hit-and-run raids throughout the western seas, and European coastal locations went on for centuries and they were good at it. Supporting that industrious effort the men (and a few fierce women) were gone years and that left women to run the communities in a resilient and thriving manner. Women were empowered with spiritual gifts and authorities, connections and consultation privileges with Higher Power without it necessarily marking them as evildoers (as would later happen when raiding lost its charm and men clawed back their patriarchal authorities). Women skillfully weaved specialty cloths and sails, raised livestock, fought local battles, created a market for resource exchanges and trading of goods. They could sail ships and maneuver small crafts as handily as their men, keep the neighbors at bay, and take hostages when necessary.

Heather Pringle and National Geographic have provided this refreshingly readable reflection of the Viking world that has long been needed. Also included in the audio version is a handy pdf, which this reader greatly appreciated. Four stars from this daughter of Denmark, as well as a daughter of vanquished Northumberlanders (at the hands of the Vikings).

*A sincere thank you to Heather Pringle, National Geographic and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #TheNorthwomen #NetGalley 25|52:34a

[Mai H.]

Non-fiction November TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and National Geographic

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

This read somewhat like a summation of various reference books on Nordic women. What helps set it apart is a short fictional story at the onset of each section that’s set in the life of a Viking woman. It helps lend some relatability to the historical context on how these women lived.

They had difficult lives, pretty awful for most. Viking women faced incredible abuse at the hands of men and often inflicted the same upon captured women of other cultures the Vikings raided. It was more or less kill or be killed. Slavery, rape, beatings, starvation, grueling work, I wouldn’t have survived to adulthood. It’s bizarre to me how often Vikings are glorified, they were a gruesome lot.

I found the section on Viking seeresses, the divining Volur, most interesting. I also enjoyed learning about the techniques women used to weave ship sails. The sails were crafted of spun wool or flax and required nearly half a century to create for larger warships.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal! I’ve wanted to read a book about the history of the Vikings for years, but I just never made the time to sit down and read one. What an excellent choice this one was! The Northwomen was such a readable book, and I loved the format of starting each section with a story that pertained to the information to follow.

Heather Pringle made the history of Viking women feel accessible and beyond fascinating. There were several parts where I eagerly flew through pages, hoping to find what happened next in the mystery of how the Vikings did what they did and who the Viking women were. I genuinely encountered something I was hooked by in every part, but the most surprisingly captivating one was the section about the weavers. The amount of time and energy they poured into just one sea blanket was wild! I’m tempted to leave several of my favorite facts here, but I think those tidbits should be discovered through Pringle’s writing. Just know that my husband has learned more about the Vikings over the past couple of weeks than he ever cared to know. I had no idea that the women were so involved in aspects of, well, everything! From exploring to trading to crafting to leading, the Viking women had a hand in it all.

I also appreciated that Pringle didn’t gloss over the cruelty of the Vikings. The terror and violence inflicted on others was honestly shocking at times, and, as Pringle herself says, the ignoring of such horrors is an injustice to those who experienced them. They weren’t just explorers seeking to grow their lands and wealth; they were pillagers who murdered, tormented, and trafficked to get what they wanted and to show (and cultivate) their great power.

Pringle truly has a gift for bringing history to life, and it is evident that she has a passion for ensuring that women in history do not get forgotten. Her usage of such a wide variety of resources and the interviews with archaeologists, historians, crafters, etc., provides a well-rounded and thorough experience. I cannot recommend this book enough.

If you have any interest in women’s history, have ever been fascinated by Vikings, or want to truly appreciate all our modern conveniences, this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and National Geographic for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was happy to receive this book as an ARC curtesy of NetGalley and National Geographic, and found it to be quite enjoyable! I was pretty interested in reading about the Vikings as most of my exposure to their history comes from popular culture. This book, an exploration into the lives of Viking women, added a lot of depth missing from other media. For a fairly short book, it’s packed with details! I was amazed at how often the archaeologists profiled in these pages were able to uncover information about Viking women just by looking at excavation records from a different angle - the process of finding what previous scholars simply discounted or outright ignored was super interesting (and a little infuriating.) I appreciate that the author included so much information about how the information laid out in the book has been uncovered. I also especially enjoyed the little vignettes at the beginning of each chapter that briefly imagined a slice of some Viking woman’s life. This gets a solid 4/5 from me, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a bit about the north women. It’s pretty brutal at times, but it was a hard world to live in!

[Misty · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Northwomen seems to be a well researched book, with what little research there seems to be on the subject.

Even if the author hadn’t mentioned that they were a writer for National Geographic, you can definitely tell. It felt like I was reading a magazine and not an informative book. My biggest problem is the short fictional portraits at the beginning of each chapter, which feels like we see more in articles and Netflix documentaries and to me it is not needed. If you want to write fiction then do that. Historical fiction is a fantastic genre, and one that I absolutely adore, but there is no reason to mesh fiction into a supposed non-fiction book. I get that this might be a strange hill to die on, but it made me feel like the author did not want to tell the story of Viking era women based on the facts, but rather tell the story of Viking women that fit their narrative.

I appreciate the amount of research the author put into this book, and the broad look at what women could have been during the Viking age.

Thank you Netgalley and National Geographic for the ARC of this book.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This suffers from the same problem that many history books I have reviewed lately. There is simply not enough information on these historical figures to write a book. While I understand the limitations when writing women's histories and appreciate the desire to tell women's stories, it just is not holding my interest as written. I received an ARC of this book for my honest review.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever been watching Wardruna on Youtube and thought, "I wish I could read this feeling?" Heather Pringle does such a great job writing in an interesting and engaging way about the Vikings. Especially, since Viking men get a lot more attention than the women... shocking I know.
I loved finding proof of an actual woman Viking warrior. That there could actually be women warriors and not just Valkyrie representations. Also, the mystery of who the two ladies on the most badass burial ship could be.... maybe sorceresses, who were super important.

This book is pretty great if you want to learn about Vikings from a perspective that was largely ignored, maybe not by actual Vikings but definitely by the people who came after them. I also really liked that each section it started with a point of view of the woman who we would learn about.


Thank you Netgalley for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Kate Cedras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun read! I’ve always loved the history in itself of the Vikings- but I absolutely devoured this book allll about the Viking women. I was thankful for the opportunity to read it as well because of how often women’s roles and their importance in cultures of the past are so often not told and/or downplayed. Super informative and packed full of knowledge and information for how short of a read it is. Definitely worth the amazing rating!

A great read & worth the rec. thanks to NetGalley and National Geographic for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Northwomen is a very easily digestible history of women during the Viking age. Published by National Geographic, it reads like a long article from the magazine. My mind boggles a bit when I read ancient histories based on archaeological evidence because so much is an educated guess that making any solid conjecture feels like a crapshoot. Maybe I need to read more about how archaeology works, but I kept thinking that after centuries there is little we can really know for sure. The author argues that Scandinavian women held previously unrecognized positions of power and influence as sorceresses, artisans, slaveholders, traders, warriors and voyagers, upsetting typical narratives of the ubiquitous bearded and fierce male Viking. A lot of the evidence for this argument is gleaned from grave goods, with the assumption that whatever the woman was buried with must have directly correlated to what she did with her life, and by extension how women were viewed in Viking society (ritual staff in grave = woman was sorceress = woman was respected and powerful). This is something I kept getting stuck on. In the chapter “Traders,” the author states that the presence of scales for weighing currency in women’s graves is evidence that women “were actively engaged in this line of work” as much as men were (188). Sounds probable enough, but scales were also found in the graves of children. What of that? It seems likely that women held jobs related to trade, but I didn’t think there was compelling enough evidence presented to convince me that we really know the exact nature of the roles. I thought that it is equally likely that people of all ages and genders were buried with stuff for probably a lot reasons (to signify wealth or status, for safe passage into the afterlife, for some arcane ritualistic purpose, to appease the gods, for some other godforsaken reason). The author uses the same logic (grave goods = role in society) to apply to potential female warriors, explorers, and religious leaders buried with various paraphernalia. This is supposedly evidence that women held positions of power previously relegated to men only. I wish the book explored other possibilities. I’m not convinced that we can reconstruct gender roles with absolute confidence by reading into what women were buried with. It’s fascinating to speculate about, and probably some of it is right, but it seemed like a stretch.

Although the author intended to establish women as figures of power during the Viking age, she used contemporary language and ideas of gender in reconstructing the past. In “Weavers,” the author argues that women who wove sailcloth and made men’s clothing were essential to the success of Viking exploration. I don’t doubt it! What I doubt is that they did so “lovingly” (126). Honestly the past seems like a terrible place to live, their lives were full of struggle and violence. I’m sure the domestic labor wasn’t always done “lovingly,” and assuming so points to the unfortunate conception of women as self-sacrificing nurturers, which weirdly goes against the author’s main argument. There’s a tendency to cast the historically marginalized as saints. I think this irons over the complexity of our distant ancestors and minimizes our shared humanity. It’d feel a lot more accurate to say perhaps some Viking women were super skilled weavers and artisans, and others resentfully toiled over the darning of their husbands' socks.

The conclusion casts Viking women as rebels and non-conformists, at least those women who were affiliated with traditionally masculine exploits (travel, trade, war, leadership). Certainly, there were women who shucked societal expectation, but the problem is that we lack the deep understanding as to how Viking families and societies were structured. Or the book doesn’t do a good enough job explaining what we do know. I think it’s obvious that women would have worked in the family business, travelled across regions with their families, managed their land and households, conducted religious rites and contributed to the economy and community. However, casting these women as dissenters doesn’t make sense when we don’t have a crystal ball to peer into the past and read minds, let alone when we don’t have any record of how common this was or the societal expectations of Viking women. It seems more logical to me that, like today, most women followed social norms and did the best they could with what they were given. Although the author points out that the boxes of gender were porous, we can’t actually tell whether or not Viking women who shot arrows on horseback or made business deals would’ve been considered rebels. It is a nice thought though.

Without a substantial historical written record, the best we can do is imagine and speculate. I love the idea of powerful and respected female Viking sorceresses, warlords, archers, and explorers. But I don’t need them to be convinced that Viking women were important and rebellious. I’d be just as interested in learning about archaeological efforts to explore the family structure, childbirth, art and ritual, love and courtship, and the daily life of Viking women across the spectrum of wealth and power. I find the lives of these individuals, i.e. regular people, no less powerful.

Besides the overuse of “Indeed,” (my biggest pet peeve), the writing was clear and compelling. I liked the short fictional vignettes at the start of each chapter, which set the mood. Despite my complaints above, I do think this is a well-researched book that is an easy and enjoyable entry point into the history of Viking women.

[Kristen Stoddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read for anyone interested in Viking History. I started to lose a little interest when the author dedicated a chapter to textiles (I understand the reasoning, though). Overall, a very enjoyable read.

[Alice Kwok · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful and engaging introductory survey of recent developments in the study of Norse women, specifically in the field of archaeology.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Our quest to understand cultures that rose and fell long ago will surely fail if we turn a blind eye to their female inhabitants. . . .A history that is masculinized has little true value." 🔥

I don't really know how to rate nonfiction but this was truly fascinating. My favorite chapters were Weavers and Warriors. Highly recommend to fellow fans of John Gwynne's Bloodsworn Trilogy and its female protagonist. He clearly used a lot of the same sources Pringle explicates here.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is a look at the women in Viking society. The author looks at archaelogical evidence of the kinds of activities women likely did. Many are things that people do not assume of Viking women. They do include things like weaving (sails, armour, etc.) and there were slaves, but there were also women warriors, merchants, voyagers, and more.

This was good. Interesting. I’ve really not read much about Vikings. This did include some broader Viking history, but with a focus on the women and the archaeological evidence that has been found to refute the assumptions that it was men only who were the warriors, merchants, and travellers. I did find this mostly interesting, but I did also lose focus at times. Being nonfiction, it did take a bit longer to read.

[Andrea Ingmire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at women in the Viking Age. Research in the archaeological record takes a look at many probable aspects of Viking women and their rather involved contributions to Viking society.

From sorceresses to voyagers and merchants, women show up in the archaeological record of Scandinavia in significant ways.

I loved the section on weavers and the work involved in fabricating sails for the ships. Show me to the dyngja!

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and informative, especially for someone like me who has very little context for viking culture. My favorite chapter was about the creation of textiles and sails. That was SO fascinating!

[Janta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wound up reading this at the same time as Embers of the Hands and I know I"m going to conflate the two in my head. This was also an interesting read, and I appreciated the premise. I also thought the epilogue was a welcome bit of comfort and inspiration, given current circumstances in the U.S. and the world.

[Jean Bonilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for the fascinating information on textiles, but the rest of the book was too light for me. I realize that there isn’t a lot of solid information about the role of women in Viking culture, but I would have appreciated a more tightly drafted narrative, based on what there is. Also, get rid of the fiction; it’s too ‘Discovery Channel’ for me.

Just a couple of notes on interesting aspects of the book. I didn’t realize how strong and effective textile armor could be. Apparently, Alexander the Great used a linen-based textile armor of layers glued together. In Scandinavia, only the elite Viking men could afford to wear chain mail; the remainder protected themselves with a fabric made of linen and wool felt. Their cloth was quilted together, rather than glued.

In discussing women as warriors, Pringle draws largely on female sources. I can’t help but wonder if the wish gives weight to the thin evidence they have. She does make a valid point about equestrian disciplines being the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete on an equal basis. It’s easy to imagine how effective women could be as mounted warriors.

Pringle compares Viking women, left for as long as two years by traveling husbands, to Rosie the Riveter. Just as some American women were reluctant to give up their jobs when the men came back from WWII, she suggests that the North women would also have wanted to retain their leadership roles.

A word of appreciation: given my frequent complaints about the paucity of dates and inadequate maps in other books, Pringle does a good job in providing what she has.

[Kari Wittenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great view into the lives of the Norske women. There is a lot of detail in the history, yet so much more to discover! The book has a lot of history and landscapes; a map would be so helpful!

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. This is a fascinating work that provides much needed information about the role of women in the Viking world where they have been traditionally ignored by scholars, in part, because of the lack of written records and also because of the bias of male academics that unfortunately still exists in some scholars today. Through new archaeological information and reviewing and reinterpreting old finds, the role of women is beginning to come into focus. Old rich burials that were identified as male warriors have recently been reidentified as female through DNA and anthropological reexamination even though some continue to deny that information.

This book does not only focus on what could be female warriors but the many other roles women played including magic wielders, weavers, merchants, wives, slaves, and religious roles which are clearly designated into sections in the book. It was astonishing to discover the amount of work women did to weave sails and clothes necessary for the Viking expeditions. That actually took the most work of any aspect of the raids, including building the ships. It took years of women work hours to provide sails for a fleet. Without their work there would not have been any Viking era. And, of course, that was not their only role, often being mothers, wives, overseeing households and making meals to name a few at the same time.

There is plenty of other fascinating information that I will leave you to discover for yourself if you read this book. Pringle discusses the amazing discoveries, trade and travels Vikings made from North America to the Mediterranean and Byzantium through the steppes of Russia and the Ukraine. And these likely included women based on archaeological evidence. However, she does not gloss over the darker side of Viking life which included murder, devastations to towns and country farms, rape and slavery.

Vikings were a complex group that had a darker side but were far from barbarians without sophisticated beliefs, technology and drive. This book adds much needed information to our understanding of Vikings that gives a much better view into their society, accomplishments and dark deeds by the incorporation of women into the narrative. After all, you have only half the story if you leave out half the society.

I definitely recommend this book. It is very readable and informative.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always interested people who look at history and ask the question: where are the women? Obviously they were there, but women and their stories aren't recorded as often as men, and so are frequently overlooked and forgotten.

In The Northwomen, journalist Heather Pringle searches for women in Viking world and talks to expert archaeologists who are looking at new (and old) evidence to rewrite what has been "established fact" for so long about the Viking world.

Pringle does an amazing job here, helping to tell the stories that archaeologists are discovering in ways that laypeople can understand, bringing us into the world of explorers, traders, artisans, raiders, and sorceresses to think about how Viking women could have lived- and when (and if) they might have held power in that world.

I loved how archaologically focused this book was, making the world very concrete and evidence based. One of my favorite chapters, surprisingly, was on weavers. Pringle interviewed people who have been studying and actually re-creating as much as possible the original Viking weaving methods, and used them to help make a woolen sail for a recreated Viking ship. The amount of work that went into the project and what they learned about the work the women would have done was amazing, and really captured me. There were even descriptions of woolen 'armor' that men would have worn when going into battle- in much of the world, not just among the Vikings! And all of it would have been created by women.

Pringle doesn't try to completely rehabilitate the Vikings as a people, but recognizes the negative aspects of their society as well as the positive. She talks about them as a slave trading society (as were most societies of their day) and does a really interesting comparison to modern psychological studies in the slave trade to try to understand what it would have been like for women who were subjected to this.

Overall, The Northwomen was a wonderfully written, well researched book that makes the latest archaeological research on women in the Viking world accessible to anyone who is interested in finding out about it. I definitely recommend this book!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than some vague ideas about ships and brutish men, I knew nothing about Vikings before I read The Northwomen. Pringle divides her book about the women of the Viking age by roles they might have played: sorceresses, protectors, weavers, slaves, etc. The tone of Pringle’s research is very casual, and her writing is easy to read.

I found many of the stories fascinating, and I’ve shared snippets with my family. I didn’t know that Vikings reached North America 471 years before Christopher Columbus and that one reason they didn’t settle more permanently was probably because of the Indigenous people who did not want them there. Huh! Another fascinating story was that of the discovery of the bones of a presumed male Viking warrior. Years of close study and testing have now revealed that the warrior was female, an idea that caused major controversy among those who study this stuff.

So, as a novice Viking enthusiast, The Northwomen captivated me. I don’t know how it would land for someone more experienced in this history.

One issue I noticed repeatedly is that Pringle threw out several caveats in relation to her assertions about the roles of Viking women. Words such as “likely,” “probably,” “possibly,” and “maybe” undermined many of her assertions, so I was left unsure as to the veracity of some of her claims. The history of Viking men seems more settled, which proves Pringle’s point that Viking women have been underrepresented in history.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and it has inspired me to learn more about Vikings!

Thank you to National Geographic which permitted NetGalley to provide The Northwomen to me for free in exchange for an honest review.

[lizard · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A history that is masculinized has little true value."

Magic-wielders, protectors, laborers, slaves, merchants, fighters, explorers to shores across an ocean, forbearers to one of the great European civilizations: all women. A strong sail is stitched together in Pringle's book, The Northwomen, taking readers back to the rolling hills and salty coasts of Scandinavia, all the way to the halls of Constantinople, in an accessible, humanizing narrative about history's oft-forgotten "other half," this time, in the north of Europe.

Pringle brings vivid color to women we only know of through burial goods and archeological remnants which have long lost their original luster (plus some written accounts with hard-to-discern lines between fact/fiction). She also manages to weave in modern information, with tales about current-day researchers, her travels to relevant sites, and even U.N. data and accounts from Yazidi women enslaved by ISIS, and what studying them can potentially reveal about women in history that went through the same thing—such as women enslaved by the Vikings.

Most importantly, through the whole work, Pringle illuminates the women we all know were living in Scandinavia between the 9th and 11th centuries, but rarely appear in the annals. Of all civilizations, few are portrayed in popular culture as overtly masculine—in my opinion—as the Vikings. But, it goes without saying that that isn't a picture fully representative of the truth. Pringle's book is, as she hoped it to be, truly one of the first steps forward to dispelling that notion.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Off Service Book Recs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Heather Pringle for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!

"The Northwomen" chronicles research into the little-known lives of women in Viking history. As someone who has always been interested in Viking history and portrayal of Vikings/Norse mythology in media (if you haven't played or watched a playthrough of the new God of War series, I HIGHLY recommend, it was so good), I was so pleased to receive an advanced copy of this book!

If you enjoy historical non-fiction in any sense I think this will be a fantastic book for you. It is thoroughly researched (in the kindle version about the last 20% of the book is references) and I think does a good job of describing what we know from historical records and noting what is fact versus inference. Studying people who lived over 1,000 years ago is fraught with mystery and frustration and I was really impressed at the lengths researchers have gone to try and decipher what remains for us to learn from.

I think that trying to amass a book of research can invariably become boring without the right person writing it, and Heather Pringle was that person. I liked the fictional glimpses into the past she included at the beginning of each chapter to help set the reader into the research she would be discussing and I also think that the way she arranged the historical finds she described flowed well and felt like walking through a museum exhibit without being disjointed. I understand she has other books and I'll definitely be seeking out more of them after this!

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer]

The Northwomen by Heather Pringle, have you ever wondered how the other half of the Vikings lived? Well through their death Heather Pringle does her best to try and answer that question but also answers so many others. This book was so interesting from sorcerers to actual female warriors and everything in between the excavation of graves in the Netherlands has given us so much information from the Osberg ladies to Lady Melhus, The author has left no stone unturned. From talking to professor Neil Price who is thought to be the most knowledgeable man on Vikings alive today to many many others. It seems she has traveled the world to find out everything she could about the females we hear nothing from. How they possessed international treasures how they played a bigger part in Viking battles then once thought and the importance some of them held. Not only are the stories of these women interesting how they came across the information through research and do diligence is also so very intriguing. I absolutely enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down, from the beginning with the Erie burial ceremony until the end I was totally entertained. I sat up in bed reading it and didn’t want to stop it was so good. This is a book I absolutely recommend it’s a great read for any fan of viking and Scandinavian history. Heather Pringle takes back the history the patriarchy tried to bury or didn’t find important enough to mention. #NetGalley, #NationalGeographyPress, #HeatherPringle, #TheNorthWomen,

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from goodreads' first reads. I had been to Scandinavia a few years ago and found the Viking museums very interesting, but as this author notes, there's not a lot of information on Viking women in those museums.

Mostly when I thought of Viking women, I pictured them as the stay at home and tend the family type while their husbands/fathers/brothers went out raiding/exploring.

This book re-set my view of these women. While they did tend to family, they were also weavers (clothing, sails, body armor, etc...), traders, sorceresses, land owners and in some cases, warriors.

The author starts each main chapter/section with a fictional story about a Viking woman and follows it with research on when/where artifacts/information was discovered supporting the story. Viking artifacts have been found across northern Europe and parts of Asia, along with Asian artifacts in Viking territory, proving that Viking explorers, traders, raiders, ranged across wide swaths of the known world at that time. Burial mounds for women have included items such as weapons, tools to determine value of goods, jewelry and remnants of cloth of Asian origin, and other things that have lead some archeologists to determine that women were a lot more involved in society and the economy than they have been given credit for.

If you're interested in the Viking era &/or women's historical roles in society, I recommend this book.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books about how a new look at the archaeological evidence shows things that were ignored before. This is an entertaining read that amplifies the picture of Norse society by looking more closely at burial artifacts now known to be associated with women, as well as site excavation data.

I have to admit I find it annoying that so many perfectly capable historians now seem to feel they have to capture readers by writing a little fictional scene at the beginning of each chapter. These irritate me. If I wanted historical fiction I'd read historical fiction. I'm not sure that readers who can't read history without these are going to remain attentive through all the actual facts that follow.

But if you can get over that, this book is interesting. As I read the chapter about the amount of textile work involved in keeping Viking ships afloat, I thought - how is it even possible that the available population of women could produce this much work? And the answer was in the next chapter. Slaves. Knowing some textile history from elsewhere in the world, it occurred to me to wonder whether any men worked on textiles - until comparatively recently, weaving was a man's job - women did the spinning, and men monopolized the weaving guilds, at least in England. I don't know whether maybe there's more overlooked evidence in this area, that's not being seen because we believe textile work is women's work? I'd love to know...

[Laura✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather Pringle's "The Northwomen" serves as a reader-friendly portal into the lives of women in the Viking world, a subject that has been overlooked and sometimes even deliberately obscured by male archeologists. Pringle's work is commendable for its accessible narrative and engaging approach, particularly her use of fictional vignettes at the beginning of each chapter to captivate the reader's imagination.

While Pringle is not an archaeologist or Viking scholar, her interviews with experts and reliance on archaeological reports provide a comprehensive compilation of the current knowledge about Viking women. This book is tailored for the lay reader with a budding interest in Viking history and a specific curiosity about the roles of women in that era.

"The Northwomen" may not be a scholarly tome that contributes new findings to academia, but it certainly succeeds in amalgamating scattered information into a single, coherent narrative. For those seeking a deeper exploration of the Viking world, I recommend "Children of Ash and Elm" by Neil Price, who is often quoted in Pringle's book.

"The Northwomen" is a reader-friendly contribution to a significant yet underrepresented part of Viking history, making it a worthy read for enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

This was an ARC review for NetGalley.

[Laura N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a noble effort from the author. She really wanted to try to piece together what it was like to be a woman during the Viking period with very little documentation.

A lot of the book was "hearsay" information derived from archeological artifacts. It was interesting as she visited archeological sites that were found to have women present as warriors, sorceresses, traders, etc. So she was trying to piece together what life may have looked like based on scant evidence.
The most glaring example of the was in the chapter about slaves. She used modern evidence from women who were captured and forced to be slaves by ISIS in Northern Iraq to show what it would have been like for the women captured during a viking raid. I guess you could say the trauma was the same, but these are still two completely different situations. That is when it felt as though the author was grasping at straws.

The maps on the inside cover were fantastic as was the introduction. I would skip the rest. If you are looking for a fictional great representation of women during this time frame. John Gwynne does a fantastic job.