Vancouver author Deb Cushman is excited to announce the release of her debut children’s middle-grade novel Frigg’s Journey to Anasgar available September 8, 2022. Frigg’s Journey to Anasgar is the first book of an exciting new middle-grade fantasy series, Chronicles of Nadavir, that will follow a group of magical friends on journeys of adventure and discovery. Children aged 8 to 12 and the adults in their lives will enjoy this lively tale.
As humans scatter across the land, magical folk find refuge with dwarves inside their mountain colony of Nadavir, angering the trolls living in the other half of the mountain. When the trolls invade and enslave the inhabitants of the colony, Frigg, a headstrong young dwarf, escapes with her friends and travels in search of the legendary dwarf colony of Anasgar for help to fight the trolls.
Frigg’s Journey to Anasgar owes a lot of its inspiration from Nordic mythology. According to a Norse creation myth, dwarves were created from the body of the dead giant Ymir. The Aesir molded them into human-like shapes, giving them creativity and skill with metals. Many elements of Scandinavian heritage appear in the book, including the meanings of runes, which provide the core of the dwarf religion.
Frigg, named after the Norse goddess of domesticity, longs to study the fighting skills of male dwarves, but her father is determined that she follow the traditional ways of dwarf women, keeping a home in their colony of Nadavir.
When trolls attack and capture all the adult males, Frigg and her faery friend Ping prepare to face an outside world that they’ve only read about in books. They are soon joined by Cricall, an exuberant young unicorn, and Tip, a feisty elf.
Frigg relies on skills she’s gained living underground as she leads her band through tunnels and puzzling caves. But once outside her mountain, she’s humbled, having to rely on her friends’ knowledge of the land to get them through unfamiliar territory. She also hadn’t anticipated being captured by ogres, becoming an exhibit in a freak show, or facing menacing dwarves instead of friendly allies. Although Frigg has grown strong and confident on her journey, she must return to her colony and convince the frightened, untrained women that they have the capability to wage a major battle against the trolls and save their home.