Jan Ove Ekeberg - Selected Title Author
We are happy to present our selected title author Jan Ove Ekeberg. He has written Legionnaire. The Barbarians from the North (original title: Legionær – Barbarene fra nord). The book is one of NORLA’s Selected Titles of the spring 2025.
What is your book about?
The book tells the story of how the young boy Nithijo, the shaman Urd, and the warrior Gaois become legionnaires. These three “barbarians from the north” find themselves on opposing sides of a bloody battle in Jutland. After the battle, they are forced to flee and, reluctantly, band together. Joining them on their escape are Lilium, Gaois’ daughter, and Halt, a thrall.
The group reaches the Alemanni kingdom by the Rhine, where they find refuge with King Khrokus. But their fate takes a sudden turn when Nithijo rescues a drowning man. The man is unconscious, but Gaois recognizes the ring on his hand—he is a Roman general. When he comes to, the Roman reveals that he is Constantine, son of Constantius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. A new civil war is about to break out. Constantine has survived an assassination attempt and must hasten to York to warn his father.
The journey takes them through the Roman city of Cologne, which is held by rebels. These rebels are also enemies of the Alemanni, and Khrokus decides to ally himself with Constantine. Cologne is recaptured, and Constantine reaches his father. During this journey, Nithijo, Urd, and Gaois begin to find their places within Constantine’s inner circle. When his father dies the following year, Constantine is proclaimed the new emperor in 306 AD—with Khrokus placing the laurel wreath on his head.
The ending sets the stage for a second book in which the three fictional main characters will take different roles in the struggle to reunite the Roman Empire.
What inspired you to write this book?
The inspiration for writing the story of the three Scandinavian legionnaires comes from new archaeological findings and Roman sources from the same era. As with my previous historical series, The Last Viking King and In the Time of the Sword, Legionnaire is also based on real historical events.
Archaeological finds confirm that men—and even some women—from Scandinavia served in the Roman legions. The Roman characters in the book are linked to historical figures such as Khrokus and Constantine, who fought to reunite the Roman Empire through a 20-year-long civil war. The Battle of Jutland, which plays a key role in the novel, is also well-documented.
However, we know much less about what these Scandinavian legionnaires actually experienced in the vast Roman Empire. That is the story I aim to tell in this book—and possibly in future novels under the Legionnaire series.
Read more
See full presentation of the book here
Read more about the author here
See all NORLA’s Selected Titles for the spring 2025 here
