I would like to stress that Ulf’s Tale is a work of historical fiction. While the majority of characters in the novel, including Jarl Ulf Thorgilsson, are historically documented, there is no solid evidence he possessed land in Norway or that he was an intimate counsellor of King Olaf. Otherwise, most of the events narrated are accurate but since primary sources are scarce, historians, with considerable caution, have to lean on the various Scandinavian sagas, such as the Heimskringla, which I drew upon for this tale.
Ulf’s TaleHeimskringlaApart from an interest in late-Viking history, the inspiration for this story came from amazement at the importance of betrayal (the theme of the novel) in the events of eleventh-century Anglo-Scandinavian history. A conviction grew in my mind that Jarl
