Kevin Crossley-Holland’s Red the River Rises is the suspenseful tale of star-crossed lovers Tor and Kata, who fall for one another during the 1066 Viking invasion of England.
When the 15-year-olds meet, 300 longships carrying 10,000 men led by Norwegian King Harald Hardrada are en route to invade the city of York and, Harald hopes, conquer England. Tor, the king’s youngest and illegitimate son, was sent to reconnoiter the area and its citizens while posing as an Orkney fisherman. He’s to discern the best spot to make landfall on a treacherously rocky coast—and whether the locals might run, surrender or fight.
Recently orphaned Kata lives in Riccall, a village south of York, where she’s been wondering, “Is this all there is? Plowing and planting, and weeding, haymaking, harvesting.” Elders encourage the teenage villagers to marry, but the boys her age are “thickheads.” Tor, however, is confident enough to wink at her upon first sight, and their connection is palpable. It only deepens as Hardrada’s ships move closer and Tor’s intentions are repeatedly questioned in the village. Is he a peaceful Norwegian like the settlers around York, or is he a bloodthirsty Viking?
Tor verbally denies his heritage but internally wrestles with his identity. After all, his mother and Harald never married; he grew up on a farm and isn’t battle-trained like his oft-cruel father. Similarly, Riccall is Kata’s home, but she’s not sure if it should be forever. Questions of loyalty, duty and destiny swirl around the duo as they wonder if they dare hope for a postwar future together.
Crossley-Holland is a poet, translator and Carnegie Medal-winning author best known for The Arthur Trilogy and novels like 2024’s King Alfred and the Ice Coffin. In Red the River Rises, he creates an immersive fictional world steeped in detailed, dramatic history. His language is lyrical, and his storytelling is engaging as he weaves Norse folklore, military strategy and ever-rising suspense into this thought-provoking tale of adventure, romance and the heartbreak inevitable in a world at war.