First written down in the 8th century AD, these early Irish stories depict a far older world - part myth, part legend and part history. Rich with magic and achingly beautiful, they speak of a land of heroic battles, intense love and warrior ideals

Egil's Saga tells the story of the long and brutal life of 10th century warrior-poet and farmer Egil Skallagrimsson: a morally ambiguous character who was at once the composer of intricately beautiful poetry, and a physical grotesque

Mixing realism with wild Gothic imagination, Eyrbyggja Saga dramatizes a thirteenth-century view of the past, from the pagan anarchy of the Viking Age to the settlement of Iceland and the beginnings of organized society.

Based on oral tales that originated from historical events in 10th century Iceland, these two sagas follow the fate of a powerful Viking family across two generations, from its Norwegian ancestry through fierce battles to defend its honour.

All seven stories in this volume exemplify the outstanding qualities of realistic fiction in medieval Iceland. They date from the 13th century and fall into two distinct groups.

The biography of one of the most remarkable and memorable of the medieval kings of Norway. King Harald’s Saga forms part of the Heimskringla, a complete history of Norway from prehistoric times to 1177, by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson.

Written around 1245 by an unknown author, the Laxdaela Saga is an extraordinary tale of conflicting kinships and passionate love, and one of the most compelling works of Icelandic literature.

Set in the south of Iceland, around the time of the conversion to Christianity in the year 1000, this saga follows a fifty-year blood feud from its violent beginnings to its tragic end.

Written around AD 1200 by an unnamed Icelandic author, the Orkneyinga Saga is an intriguing fusion of myth, legend and history. It tells of an era when the islands were still part of the Viking world

Set in the farmsteads of Viking age Iceland at a time when the old ethos of honour and heroic adventure merged with new ideas of romantic infatuation, each of these sagas features poet heroes, complex love triangles, and travels to foreign lands.

Composed at the end of the 14th century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an 11th century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age