She Wolf is a Viking adventure story set in the cold harsh winter of Northumbria, AD 866. Ylva (pronounced eel-va) witnesses her mother’s tragic death, which instigates her hunger for revenge – after all, that is the Viking way. Her target: the three-fingered man. Ylva has been taught to survive; no crying will do and with the Norse Gods on her side, she knows she doesn’t need anyone else to help.

Yet, things change when she comes across Cathryn and Bron, two strangers who seem just as preoccupied as she is. Trust doesn’t come easy for Ylva and the twists and turns along the way, make this is an edge-of-your-seat kind of story through which the reader learns just as much as Ylva does.

The descriptions in the book put you right there in the thick of it with the characters, and when a story involves survival against wolves, bears and brutal hunters, it very quickly becomes a book where you have to keep turning the pages to lap up the action. While I felt this may be more suitable for mature KS2 readers, there is no doubt that this is a master class in Viking culture, drama and suspense. Sheer brilliance from Dan Smith who is now a firm favourite of mine!