In the year 1005 A.D., a terrible famine strikes Engla-lond. When a poor young woman named Hildred grows desperate enough to break the law for her survival, a rising thegn named Eadric takes her fate in his hands. “The Lost Tales of Mercia” are ten short stories set in Viking Age England. They introduce the characters of the novel, Eadric the Grasper, but each story stands independently.