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Signe : Book 3
A promise broken. A family shattered. A name to be reclaimed.
Christiania was meant to be their salvation. Instead, the promised land has become a cellar of damp straw and empty bread-bags, where Signe lies awake beside a fevered child with her own baby turning inside her and only weeks to go.
When she finally finds Anders, he is thin, wounded and broken, turned out of a fallen merchant house that would not own him. And the man who knew every ford and every smugglers' path has been carrying something across the border in silence. Something that means his name can never be given to his child.
Now the city is closing in. Fever is rising in the slums. The King is massing an army on the edge of town, and seventeen-year-old Jon is ready to sell himself for a soldier's coat and a summer's bread. Going back the way they came would kill them.
So Signe makes the choice no one else will make for her. In the dark, with a sick child in a blanket and a family with nowhere left to run, they slip down to the black water of the fjord and trust themselves to the sea.
Somewhere on a bare rock off the Swedish coast, among fishermen who ask no questions, Signe must bring a child into the world with no midwife but her own daughter's hands. And she must find out whether a family with no name, no papers and nothing left can earn the right to begin again.
The powerful conclusion to the Signe trilogy, the first arc of The Dalberg a story of how the deepest scars can become the ground a new life is built on.
Signe's journey ends here, but the road goes on. Kerstin has found the work her hands were made for. Olof cannot stop looking at the sea. And the children Signe fought to keep will carry her blood, her strength and her stubborn hope into a changing world, and across an ocean, in the sagas still to come.
Christiania was meant to be their salvation. Instead, the promised land has become a cellar of damp straw and empty bread-bags, where Signe lies awake beside a fevered child with her own baby turning inside her and only weeks to go.
When she finally finds Anders, he is thin, wounded and broken, turned out of a fallen merchant house that would not own him. And the man who knew every ford and every smugglers' path has been carrying something across the border in silence. Something that means his name can never be given to his child.
Now the city is closing in. Fever is rising in the slums. The King is massing an army on the edge of town, and seventeen-year-old Jon is ready to sell himself for a soldier's coat and a summer's bread. Going back the way they came would kill them.
So Signe makes the choice no one else will make for her. In the dark, with a sick child in a blanket and a family with nowhere left to run, they slip down to the black water of the fjord and trust themselves to the sea.
Somewhere on a bare rock off the Swedish coast, among fishermen who ask no questions, Signe must bring a child into the world with no midwife but her own daughter's hands. And she must find out whether a family with no name, no papers and nothing left can earn the right to begin again.
The powerful conclusion to the Signe trilogy, the first arc of The Dalberg a story of how the deepest scars can become the ground a new life is built on.
Signe's journey ends here, but the road goes on. Kerstin has found the work her hands were made for. Olof cannot stop looking at the sea. And the children Signe fought to keep will carry her blood, her strength and her stubborn hope into a changing world, and across an ocean, in the sagas still to come.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2026
About the author
Esther Warren
57 books1 followerEsther Warren is the pen name of Andréa Warrebo — a Swedish author, former psychiatric nurse of twenty-five years, and mother of neurodivergent children, writing from the lake-filled landscapes of Dalsland, Sweden.
The place where she lives is not just a backdrop. It is the beating heart of everything she writes.
The forests, lakes, farms, and villages of Dalsland appear across all her books — in the historical emigrants who left these shores for America, in the women who stayed and endured, in the folklore creatures who still whisper at the water's edge, and in the small-town streets where modern love finds its way home. Readers who travel through multiple series will find familiar places, echoing names, and a world that grows deeper with every book — though every story stands completely alone.
Her writing moves across worlds:
The Tales of Memory — narrative history that brings the great immigrant journeys to America back to life, blending grounded historical chapters with intimate fictional vignettes. Swedish, Irish, German, and more. The #1 bestselling Swedish Migration history on Amazon.
The Early Tales of Dalberg — deeply personal historical novels and novellas rooted in the lives of women who were overlooked, misunderstood, or simply never asked to speak. Elin. Signe. Hanna Madelene. Women of quiet courage and vivid inner worlds — including Hanna Madelene, a neurodivergent woman navigating life before anyone had the words for what she was. Written by a nurse who witnessed, and a mother who understands.
The Tales of Dalberg — warm, character-rich cozy romance set in present-day Dalberg, where the past is never far away and love always finds its season.
And a fantasy trilogy — rooted in the ancient folklore of Dalsland, where the old creatures still move through the moss and shadows.
Andréa left psychiatric care to write full-time — carrying twenty-five years of witnessed resilience, unspoken stories, and deep human understanding into every page she writes.
Her books are for the heritage seekers and the history lovers. For the neurodivergent women who have never seen themselves in the past. For the mothers who understand. For the readers who want to slow down, feel something real, and come home to a place that holds them.
She writes from Dalsland. She writes about Dalsland. And if you stay long enough — it will feel like yours too.
The place where she lives is not just a backdrop. It is the beating heart of everything she writes.
The forests, lakes, farms, and villages of Dalsland appear across all her books — in the historical emigrants who left these shores for America, in the women who stayed and endured, in the folklore creatures who still whisper at the water's edge, and in the small-town streets where modern love finds its way home. Readers who travel through multiple series will find familiar places, echoing names, and a world that grows deeper with every book — though every story stands completely alone.
Her writing moves across worlds:
The Tales of Memory — narrative history that brings the great immigrant journeys to America back to life, blending grounded historical chapters with intimate fictional vignettes. Swedish, Irish, German, and more. The #1 bestselling Swedish Migration history on Amazon.
The Early Tales of Dalberg — deeply personal historical novels and novellas rooted in the lives of women who were overlooked, misunderstood, or simply never asked to speak. Elin. Signe. Hanna Madelene. Women of quiet courage and vivid inner worlds — including Hanna Madelene, a neurodivergent woman navigating life before anyone had the words for what she was. Written by a nurse who witnessed, and a mother who understands.
The Tales of Dalberg — warm, character-rich cozy romance set in present-day Dalberg, where the past is never far away and love always finds its season.
And a fantasy trilogy — rooted in the ancient folklore of Dalsland, where the old creatures still move through the moss and shadows.
Andréa left psychiatric care to write full-time — carrying twenty-five years of witnessed resilience, unspoken stories, and deep human understanding into every page she writes.
Her books are for the heritage seekers and the history lovers. For the neurodivergent women who have never seen themselves in the past. For the mothers who understand. For the readers who want to slow down, feel something real, and come home to a place that holds them.
She writes from Dalsland. She writes about Dalsland. And if you stay long enough — it will feel like yours too.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 15, 2026
Signe : Book 3 (The Dalberg Saga)
Book 3 of 5: The Dalberg Saga
This book along with the first two books deals with the harsh life Signe, Anders and their combined children live during this period of time in rural Sweden and Norway. The emotions that are stirred as I read were deep and exposing inner fears. The author pulls you into the story line that is very dark at times, but shows how naive and trusting Signe and the children are to their dangers. Kerstin is a steady force to her mother. I couldn’t put this book down. These books must be read in order and do not stand alone.
Book 3 of 5: The Dalberg Saga
This book along with the first two books deals with the harsh life Signe, Anders and their combined children live during this period of time in rural Sweden and Norway. The emotions that are stirred as I read were deep and exposing inner fears. The author pulls you into the story line that is very dark at times, but shows how naive and trusting Signe and the children are to their dangers. Kerstin is a steady force to her mother. I couldn’t put this book down. These books must be read in order and do not stand alone.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review