SALT LAKE CITY — Mary E. Nelson, a member of the Cathedral of the Madeleine Parish, has published a novel under her pseudonym, Celia Lund. "Square Sails and Dragons" is a saga-based adventure story of the early voyage of the great explorer, Leif Ericsson. A work of historical fiction, the story is drawn from various Norse sagas and is set in the years prior to Ericsson’s famous 10th century sail westward which brought him to North America. While some characters are literary creations, others are people mentioned repeatedly in the sagas. The challenges of the sea, romance, and personal conflicts are interwoven in the book to provide drama and literary impetus. The work represents more than six years of research, writing, and editing. According to the author, of primary religious interest is the account of Leif Ericsson’s conversion from traditional polytheism to Christianity through the influence of missionary monks living in Norway and the zealous King Olaf Tryggvason. In the story, Leif must weigh his increasing belief in the new faith against the ire he knows it will invoke in his father, Eric the Red, when he returns to Greenland. While the author feels that readers of Scandinavian heritage "might connect with the story in a special way," it is her hope that people who know little about Norse history will enjoy it as well.
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