I am delighted to have Christina with a guest post todayĀ ~ thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for organizing.
Follow my fellow bloggers on the tour ā¤µ
Genre:Ā Dual time Viking romance
Publication Date: November 20, 2025
Publisher: Headline Review
Standalone Novel
Estimated Page Count –Ā 350
Author Content Warning: Some violence (Vikings and Anglo-Saxons fighting), a couple of sex scenes (not too graphic)
Purchase link: https://amzn.to/47L3OOX
The Importance of Research
As authors we choose the settings for our books carefully and a lot of research goes into making the descriptions as accurate as possible. I have friends who always travel to their chosen destination in order to walk in the charactersā footsteps. I do too if I can. It helps us to envisage what they would have seen and experienced so that we can imagine how they feel when they are there. Things like smells and texture can really add to our understanding, and for me visiting various sites is invaluable.
As I write about Vikings, obviously there are no buildings or towns left from that era but I can visit the next best thing ā outdoor museums with reconstructed buildings and even whole villages sometimes. Sitting in a replica longhall in Ribe (Denmark) was a great experience and I was even able to lie down on a bench covered with sheepskins in order to see what that felt like. For my new story, RIPPLES THROUGH TIME, I also needed to see an Anglo-Saxon hall. Although similar to the Viking ones, there were some subtle differences. I was fortunate enough to find a reconstructed one at the Avalon Marshes Centre in Somerset. It had stained glass windows, which I hadnāt realised, so of course I had to incorporate that in my story.
My Viking heroās ultimate goal is to own a farm where he can settle down for good. Heās been part of the so-called Heathen Army, a huge group of Norsemen who roamed southern Britain during the 860s and 870s AD. But heās tired of that life and wants a proper home, and there were plenty of potential places where he could put down roots.
This summer I was in Sweden and passed by a reconstructed Viking age farm ā Gunnes GĆ„rd at Upplands VƤsby just north of Stockholm. Itās an open air museum that consists of a collection of farm buildings showing what life was like back in the 9th and 10th centuries. Of course I took the opportunity to visit and soak up the atmosphere, imagining how my hero would have felt if he achieved his goal of owning such a place. Sitting inside the main building, where the family would have spent long evenings clustered round the hearth, gave me lots of inspiration. There were re-enactors present as well to make everything feel extra authentic which was very helpful. And even farm animals appropriate for Viking times, like a couple of very lazy pigs basking in the sunshine!
For my next project, which ā surprise, surprise! ā also features Vikings, I needed to research market places/towns. In order to learn more, I visited the site of the former trading town of Birka and I had a lovely day out. Birka is situated on an island in Lake MƤlaren west of Stockholm and can be reached by boat. Itās more or less a full dayās trip as the journey takes two hours each way and then you spend a couple of hours looking around the site, museum and a little Viking village. Although there is nothing left of the town itself, it was wonderful, and the museum had a couple of fabulous scale models of what Birka would have looked like ā one for summer and one for winter, complete with little ice-skating figures. (Vikings used skates made of animal bones which seems to have worked well!). Birka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and well worth a visit.
Iām always on the lookout for new places to visit that will give me inspiration for my stories. Next on my bucket list is the site of the former trading town Hedeby ā or HeiĆ°abĆ½r as the Vikings called it. However, itās in Germany so I might need to persuade my long-suffering husband to go on a little journey ā¦ Wish me luck!
Universal buy link for RIPPLES THROUGH TIME: https://geni.us/ripplestime
Short blurb:-
A love that will change them forever ā¦ A treasure that will bring them home
West Mercia, AD 873 ā Merewen‘s settlement is on guard against the āHeathenā Norsemen, but for her the real threats come from within. Eirik, a Viking, finds himself abandoned and injured after his uncleās plunder of Mercian land goes wrong. He thinks his fate is sealed ā until Merewen saves his life.
Hereford, Present Day ā Alix moves to her grandfather’s farm in Hereford to heal her broken heart. She soon finds herself haunted by memories of a life she never lived, a relationship she never had, and a time in which she never existed. Local farmer Noah is hounded by the police to find the Viking hoard that his sister and her boyfriend stole from his farm. He must prove his own innocence while struggling with the curious connection he has to newcomer Alix. As they search for the lost treasure, Alix and Noah start to feel the whispers of a love powerful enough to echo through history.
Author bio:
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden ā hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a Vice President and former chairman and of the UKās Romantic Novelistsā Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. RIPPLES THROUGH TIME (dual time historical romance published by Headline Review 20th November 2025) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
Social Media:-
Website ā http://www.christinacourtenay.com
Facebook ā https://www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor?fref=ts
Twitter/X ā @PiaCCourtenay – https://twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay
Instagram ā @christinacourtenayauthor – https://www.instagram.com/ChristinaCourtenayAuthor/
Bluesky ā @christinacourtenay.bsky.social – https://christinacourtenay@bsky.social
