„The ax and earth shall guard them best.“  – A statement that in 1550 sealed the fate of the Icelandic Bishop of Hólar, Jón Arason, and his two sons, Ari and Björn – and the future of the Icelandic nation following the Reformation.

This is a historical novel of faith and doubt, of power and oppression, peopled with characters who step forward larger than life from the mists of the past. With human qualities that make their tragedy only tangible in our own principle-testing times.

Translated by Philip Roughton