This book was written as a companion text to the internationally touring Vararfeldr exhibition, which centres around eight handwoven replica vararfeldir (Viking-era trade cloaks) based on archaeological fragments.

The text compiles all the painstakingly researched information for the exhibition, drawing together archaeological reports, historical law tracts, and excerpts from sagas to give a picture of why these iconic garments held such such sway in early Medieval Northern Europe.

The book also contains ten original short stories, giving a glimpse into the lives of the people who wove, wore and traded these luscious pile-woven cloaks. From a young woman lost in an Irish bog to a sailmaker weaving in the Norwegian Fjords, an Icelandic farmer mending his much-loved cloak to a Norwegian king playing a joke on an old friend, these tales are rooted in historical fact, breathing life into the facts.