She shuts her eyes, and dreams of swimming with him.
Immediately, the rest of the world drops away.
* * *
The sounds of the angry islanders.
The blue of the sky.
The smell of the sea and the clover.
The knife, descending.
* * *
There is nothing now but the two of them, and their love, which has waited for centuries to be made again, and as their blood flows, first from Merle, and then from Eric, as their blood mingles on the table and in the soil of Blessed Island, they are no longer in love, they have become love itself.
* * *
And their journey begins.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For other books I’ve written, I added an author’s note in the back to explain one or two things about the origins of the story.
I’m not this time, because there’s really not much to say, apart from that you may be interested to know that the painting, as described in the book, is a real painting, that hangs in the National Museet, Stockholm. The original Swedish title of the painting is Midvinterblot—midwinter sacrifice.
It’s by Carl Larsson, and though the reception that the painting received certainly caused him some emotional pain, the events that occur to Eric Carlsson as depicted in my novel are pure fiction, as are all the other characters.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Boughton and all of the team at Roaring Brook, for taking great care with my books and publishing them with such great energy.
Marcus Sedgwick
HADSTOCK
JULY 2011
Copyright © 2013 by Marcus Sedgwick
Published by Roaring Brook Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
macteenbooks.com
All rights reserved
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Sedgwick, Marcus.
Midwinterblood / Marcus Sedgwick — 1st American ed.
p. cm.
summary: “seven linked vignettes unfold on a Scandinavian island inhabited — throughout various time periods — by Vikings, vampires, ghosts, and a curiously powerful plant” — provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-59643-800-2 (hardcover)
[1. Love — Fiction. 2. Reincarnation — Fiction. 3. Islands — Fiction. 4. Scandinavia — Fiction.] 1. Title.
[Fic] — dc23
2012013302
eISBN 9781956438026
First hardcover edition, 2013
eBook edition, January 2013