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Historical Meadowland by Thomas Holt $14 / Abacus/ Trafalgar Sq./ 2005 Any of us, at any time, may cross paths with someone who has changed the course of history. But what if such a brief encounter leads to even bigger events? Author Thomas Holt uses that possibility to stunning effect in his latest novel Meadowland. The year is 1036. The narrator, John Stetathus, is a middle-aged Roman accountant who rarely leaves Constantinople. Thus, he is distressed when he finds out that he has been selected to accompany a payroll to faraway Sicily, with only Varangian guards (mercenaries recruited from Iceland) for company. At first, John avoids mingling with the “barbarians,” but a few days into the journey, the wagon loses a wheel and as they wait for help to arrive, they pass the time talking. Two old guards then relate that they once journeyed with a man named Leif Erickson to an enormous island at the most western edge of the world. What follows is a fascinating saga of the Viking discovery of North America. From their stormy Atlantic crossing to the rise and fall of the settlement they christened “Meadowland,” the guards’ account is both exhausting and exhilarating. Their candid narratives offer a sometimes poignant, often comical portrait of 10th-century Icelandic society (John’s comparisons to his more “civilized” Rome are also a treat). Holt's attention to historical accuracy is admirable, but it is his delightful use of dialog that keeps readers turning the pages. For instance, when John describes his Viking companions, his dry wit evokes Frasier Crane of Cheers fame. And the mercenaries speak with a man-in-the-trenches profanity that reverberates through the centuries. Ultimately, the reader comes away with the sense that people have not changed much in the last thousand years. From start to finish, Holt manages to intertwine fact, conjecture, and dramatic license into a yarn so tight that readers will not know where one leaves off and the other begins. With memorable characters, a captivating plot, and a few clever twists, Meadowland sails into the realm of truly great historical fiction. — Shantel M. Sellers

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