St. Ambrose parishioner publishes sequel to her novel

SALT LAKE CITY — Mary Nelson had no intention of writing a novel 20 years ago when she first started researching her husband’s Scandinavian ancestry. She had written poetry and short stories, some of which were published in literary magazines, but it wasn’t until a neighbor suggested she try the longer form that she considered turning her fascination with the Norse sagas into a book.

Her first novel, written under the pen name Celia Lund, was published in 2006. "Square Sails and Dragons" tells the tale of Leif Ericsson’s conversion to Christianity.

Nelson’s second book, the recently released "New Harbors New Hopes," takes Ericsson to the New World and includes another historical figure, the Christian woman Gudrid. "She was a fascinating woman," Nelson said. "She used her faith in her whole life. She was beautiful and she was brave and she gave birth to the first child of European descent on our continent. She knew how to handle men. She was someone that I think the modern woman today would really be fascinated with and wonder how she could had the strength and independence that she did 1,000 years ago."

Nelson began writing when she attended Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles. "The sisters there were wonderful creative writers," she said. "They really were quite influential on me, so much so that I switched my major from music to writing. I was editor of the college newspaper. I thought I had reached the pinnacle."

After college, she got married and raised a family, "so writing had to go on the back burner," she said. Then, "I wanted to have something to leave to the kids, and I’m terrible at recipes and knitting and afghans and all those wonderful things that other people do. So I thought, well, maybe a book about their ancestors would be something to leave to them."

She spent five years researching and writing her first book. At 85, she says she doesn’t mind playing the "age card" to get noticed, but "as an octogenarian writer I know that I better give it my best shot. It better be good because readers are not going to give you extra credit for being old."

Keeping that and modern tastes in mind, she tried to write both books in a modern voice and with a fast pace, she said.

She has found a market for her work at Scandinavian festivals; at Spanish Forks’ Iceland Days she ran out of her first book when she held a book signing at the events. The sequel has interested editors in Iceland, she said.

Both books are available online at Barnes & Noble.com, Amazon.com and the Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County libraries.