A magnificent novel of fourteenth-century Greenland, here is a rich and fascinating detail about the day-to-day lives--the joys and innumerble hardships--of a remarkable people. It is also the compelling story of one family--the proud land-owner Asgeir Gunnarsson, his daughter Margret, whose willfull independence leads her into passionate adultery and exile, and his son Gunnar, whose quest for knowledge is at the compelling center of this unforgettable book. Echoing the simple power of the old Norse sagas, here is a novel that brings a remote civilization to life--and shows how it was very like our own.