The Night of the Scourge

Butangen, Norway, the years before WWII: Astrid Hekne has inherited the fighting spirit and hypersensitivity of her grandmother, who was a protector of the mythic Sister Bells that had once hung in the village's centuries-old stave church. The once-traitorous priest Kai Schweigaard, now in his eighties, is wondering how his death, prophesied in a centuries-old tapestry, will come true. Schweigaard tries to understand the myths about the Night of the Scourge, which, according to old village beliefs, is the night when the known world will fall and the Earth will be scraped down to bare rock.

Then Norway is occupied by the Nazis. Astrid joins the Resistance, and Kai is thrown out of his own church. Betrayal within Astrid's own family unites the Sister Bells in Dresden. Special effort and sacrifice, not only from the Hekne family, will be needed to combat the postwar rumors and mistrust.

This family drama, set in the tumultuous times of WWII, beautifully completes the Sister Bells trilogy. But while it connects to the previous books in surprising and thrilling ways, it can also be read as a standalone, a grand and epic novel that intertwines Norwegian folklore and myths with a rich story of hardship and passion.

The Sister Bells Trilogy:
The Bell in the Lake (#1)
The Reindeer Hunters (#2)
The Night of the Scourge (#3)