The Burning of Njal

by Henry Treece, Bernard Blatch

The events Treece describes in this retelling of the Saga of Njal's Burning took place in Iceland in the 11th century AD. One of the great stories of tragedy and heroism.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Henry Treece (1911-1966) was a British poet and writer, who also worked as a teacher and editor. He wrote a range of works but is mostly remembered as a writer of children's historical novels.

Reviews

[Andrew Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Treece's style captures the atmosphere of these ancient tales extremely well - sparse at times, but with ironical asides and a no-nonsense approach to the slicing off of limbs and heads in battle. The stories themselves are of epic grandeur from a time and sensibility alien to the modern West, and Treece makes no apology for that in his approach. Worth reading on so many levels!

[Nameless · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's not my kind of book and certainly too gory for children.
I don't even remember how it started but it doesn't matter, it was something like one dude getting offended at someone's insult goes out to kill him. Then two men come back to avenge that guy then come another 4 men to avenge their guy by killing those 2 men and for a while the matter is dropped but then again 8 more men return to avenge those two men and so... on.

Surprisingly with the amount of killing, the population of Iceland didn't seem to get much affected.

The story kept circling around kill-avenge-kill

[Doodles McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, nine year old me liked it and liked most of Treece's historical stories.

[Garry Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pity they didn't teach Old Norse at my school, I would have been well up for that.

[Matilda Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Njal was a wise man who sometimes had visions into the future. His sons were not so careful, and The Burning of Njal describes how their family was ruined. First, Njal's friend Gunnar is murdered. Secondly, Njal's sons are tricked into killing their foster-brother. And lastly, they are all burnt alive for murder.

My favourite story was that of Gunnar the Warrior. His divorced kinswoman, Unn, persuaded him to get back her dowry. Gunnar undertook a daring adventure to retrieve it. On his way, he married a beautiful but evil woman named Hallgerd, who in the end caused his downfall.

I didn't realise it was possible to like a book this much! I love the way Henry Treece writes and I'm looking forward to reading his other books.