Literature Historical truth and fiction in the "Yrsa" Viking novels
In her historical novel "Yrsa. The Love of the Viking Woman", the Zurich-based author and historian Alexandra Bröhm tells of a time a thousand years in the past. In this interview, she explains how she blends fiction with historical fact.
26.06.2025, 11:47
SDA
The young Viking Yrsa seems to have achieved her dreams. She goes on a raid with a group of experienced fighters. Also on board the ship is the young warrior Avidh. Yrsa is fascinated by his dark charisma. But a mysterious warning overshadows the journey - Avidh, of all people, is in danger.
Alexandra Bröhm has written a historical novel about the Vikings. However, "The Viking's Love" is more than just a love story set in the early Middle Ages. On the one hand, the story contains almost criminal elements, while on the other, historical facts keep the tension high.
Yrsa in the year 834
The subject matter has always fascinated Bröhm: "Long before I had the idea of writing a historical novel, I was interested in Vikings and read books and studies about this period." And she loves Iceland: "It was the Vikings who originally settled Iceland." Despite her love of the far north, she chose what is now the Netherlands as the setting for her novel. "Yrsa's story takes place in the year 834, when this area was part of the Frankish Empire, which also included large parts of modern-day Germany and Switzerland," she says in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency.
There are many misconceptions about the Vikings - actually a term for pirates. For example, they did not have horns on their helmets. And the majority of the population in the north lived from trade, fishing, crafts and agriculture. Dorestad in what is now the Netherlands was a thriving trading town in the ninth century and was actually attacked by Vikings in 834 - just like in Alexandra Bröhm's new book.
A female warrior
"The idea of writing about a young woman who wants to fight and joins a group of fighters originally came to me because of a grave find and an article I had written about it," says the author, who also works as a journalist. It had long been assumed that the grave in Birka, Sweden, which was discovered 145 years ago, was the final resting place of a Viking warrior. The surprise was great a few years ago when DNA analysis showed that the warrior in grave Bj.581 was a woman.
In fact, "most researchers assume that there were female warriors like Yrsa, but that they were not all that numerous", says the author. "The idea of women fighting is also present in Norse mythology and sagas."
The book is not just about a successful raid. Yrsa has to fight for the life and love of the man who means everything to her. Putting herself in the shoes of people who lived 1200 years ago was a particular challenge for Alexandra Bröhm: "Even though I'm a historian and have read a lot of academic literature about the Viking era, it's difficult to imagine how people thought and felt. I have tried to incorporate current research into Yrsa and Avidh's story wherever possible."
The fact that her novel has become a love story is partly due to the fact that historical events can be told in a low-threshold way in this packaging. "When strong emotions are involved, it's easier to empathize with eras long gone."
Accurate research
Her research was meticulous. Even if nothing from the early Middle Ages is recognizable in Dorestad, which is now called Wijk bij Duurstede. Even the course of the river has changed, says Bröhm, who learned archery like her heroine. She was helped by museums and literature, as well as the experience she gained at various Viking sites in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Schleswig-Holstein.
"The evil spirits are tugging at Avidh," says a seer in the novel before the Viking ship sets sail. "When the wind stirs up the water, the monsters stay in the deep", another, who travels with the buccaneers to ensure that "the gods, spirits and elves are merciful on the journey".
It is refreshing how Alexandra Bröhm incorporates spirituality, which was normal for the peoples of the time. "For people back then, it was not a question of whether you believed or not. The spiritual was a natural part of their view of the world, and people shared their surroundings with beings such as elves, ghosts, dwarves and trolls," says the historian. The novel may therefore also appeal to readers who enjoy reading romance - even if Yrsa's world is not fictional.
At least not entirely: "The written sources we have about the Vikings all come from the victims of their raids," says the author. And the victims portrayed the Vikings as robbers and murderers. They may have been, but not only that. "Thanks to archaeology, we now know a little more about the everyday lives of the people, but unfortunately this picture is still very fragmentary." Alexandra Bröhm wants to fill this gap with her "Yrsa" novels. "Yrsa. Die Liebe der Wikingerin" was published on Thursday. The novel is the second volume to follow "Yrsa. Journey of Fate" (2024). *
*This text by Nina Kobelt, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
