Simon Across The Wide Atlantic

About the Book

In 1081 CE Simon ben Levi, the teen age Jewish trader from Norway, decides to voyage to the mysterious Vinland for trade and possible settlement. Markland and Vinland are only known from the visits of Leif Erickson, visits that ended with hostility with the Natives and murder among the Norse. Simon takes along his wife Leah, the Norman falconer Turold, Leah’s adoptive sister Rebecca and a fighting crew on his new trading ship, the Flying Raven. The trading is good but the Natives distrust the Vikings. Simon must trust ship, cargo, his own life and that of his wife to sail across the wide Atlantic in winter.

About the Author

Michael Cohn, anthropologist and teacher, has travelled on fishing boats, coastal steamers, and coast guard vessels along many shores of the North Atlantic. He has visited northern Scandinavia, the Shetlands, and Iceland as well as York, England and Bergen, Norway, where much of the action of this novel takes place. As guest curator, he has created an exhibit of the Jewish sea traders of the twelfth century at the Yeshiva University Museum in New York City. Illustrator’s Biography Erik Ronnberg is a professional model boat builder whose ships, paintings, and research articles are widely known.