Smile of the Wolf

Description

Tenth-century Iceland. In the darkness of midwinter, two friends set out on an adventure but end up killing a man. Kjaran, a travelling poet who trades songs for food and shelter, and Gunnar, a feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to the crime and pay the blood price to the family. For the right reasons, they make the wrong choice. Their fateful decision leads to a brutal feud: one man is outlawed, free to be killed by anyone without consequence; the other remorselessly hunted by the dead man's kin. Set in a world of ice and snow, Smile of the Wolf is an epic story of exile and revenge, of duels and betrayals, and two friends struggling to survive in a desolate landscape, where honour is the only code that men abide by.

Tim Leach is a graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme, where he now teaches as an Assistant Professor. His first novel, The Last King of Lydia, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize.

PRAISE FOR TIM LEACH: 'Always beautifully, lyrically written. Five stars' For Winter Nights, on The Last King of Lydia. 'Beautiful, epic, dramatic' The Bookbag, on The King and the Slave. 'Intriguing ... full of vigour and promise' Literary Review on The Last King of Lydia.