Zarabeth, with hair as red as an Irish sunset, is chosen by Magnus Haraldsson, a Viking on a trading visit to York, to be his wife. She is both stunned and fascinated by this man's bluntness, his arrogance, his absolute belief that she is meant to belong to him. He also makes her laugh and ultimately she gives him her trust, not only with her own future but with that of her little sister, Lotti. But Zarabeth's stepfather, Olav the Vain, has no intention of setting a brideprice on Zarabeth.
Zarabeth does eventually return with Magnus to his farmstead in Norway, but as his slave, not as his wife. She wears the slave collar around her neck for all to see, but hides her own pain deep within.
It is the season of the sun in Norway, the clear midnight light of summer, the season of growth and flowering, of treachery and malice. It is the season for a man and a woman to learn about each other and themselves.
