Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders & Vikings by Carolyn J. Nicholson - REVIEW
Some book titles refuse to be ignored! Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders & Vikings was one of those for me. Even before I opened the cover, the combination was irresistible — a promise of danger, drama, history, and (in my case) a personal soft spot for Vikings that I can’t entirely explain.
Having previously read and loved Carolyn Jean Nicholson’s The Last Witch on Skye, I suspected I was in for another finely woven tapestry of history and imagination. I wasn’t wrong.
Nicholson has a gift for taking meticulously researched history and turning it into something vivid, immediate, and unexpectedly moving. This isn’t a dry recitation of dates and facts — it’s an immersive journey, in every sense of the word. Our guide is Caroline Morton, a young widow living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who sets out to write a novel about her family history. One year later, she hasn’t managed the first chapter. Then, in a wonderfully mischievous twist, her ancestors decide to intervene.
The time-travel device — ancestors drawing Caroline into their own lives — could easily become a gimmick in less skilled hands. Here, it works beautifully because Nicholson treats both timelines with equal care. The modern-day sections ground us in Caroline’s grief, uncertainty, and the gentle persistence of her sisters, while the historical episodes sweep us into the perils and resilience of those who crossed oceans, carved new lives from wilderness, and occasionally crossed moral or legal lines to survive.
One of the pleasures of Nicholson’s writing is the sheer range of voices she inhabits. In The Last Witch on Skye, she conjured an 18th-century community so vividly you could smell the peat smoke and feel the salt spray. In Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders & Vikings, she widens the lens, spanning centuries and continents: Puritan settlers leaving Massachusetts for Nova Scotia in the 1760s; Highland families uprooted after Culloden; seafarers whose journeys carried danger as a constant companion; and, yes, the Norse threads that made my inner Viking lean forward with interest.
Particularly engaging for readers of genealogy and family history is Nicholson’s refusal to romanticise the past. She doesn’t draw these ancestors as flawless paragons but as complex, determined, sometimes desperate human beings. The novel captures the grit behind the lineage charts — the illnesses, betrayals, displacements, and moral dilemmas that shaped real lives. In doing so, she gives voice to the “firsts” in Caroline’s family line, those who took the first, most precarious steps into unknown worlds.
The historical research underpinning the novel is impressive, and yet it never weighs down the storytelling. Nicholson seamlessly integrates period detail into natural dialogue and sensory description, so you’re learning about remarkable history without feeling lectured to. When Caroline finds herself in the 18th century, the whole experience is alive — she feels the scratch of the linen, the unfamiliar weight of the bodice, the odd taste of breakfast beer. These moments make the past tactile and real, rather than distant or abstract.
Structurally, the book alternates between present-day Halifax and richly imagined historical chapters. This rhythm works beautifully, offering a sense of discovery in both timelines. Caroline’s encounters are not merely historical pageants; they are personal tests. She is invited to see — and sometimes endure — what her ancestors endured, from harsh sea crossings to moments of betrayal, from acts of remarkable courage to those that tested moral boundaries.
As in her earlier work, Nicholson’s characterisation is a standout. Caroline herself is likeable without being idealised — intelligent, wry, and prone to the kind of internal debates any of us might have if suddenly confronted with an ancestor who thinks nothing of dismantling a house to ship it across an ocean. The historical characters are equally distinct, their voices shaped by the cadences and concerns of their times, yet relatable in their fears and ambitions.
There’s also a playful undercurrent that keeps the novel from becoming overly solemn. Caroline’s scepticism about certain branches of her family tree (she’s not entirely convinced she wants to meet any “uncivilised” ancestors) sets up some satisfying ironies as the story unfolds. The moments when the ancestors themselves hold council, debating how best to nudge her into action, are pure delight — a reminder that history, for all its gravitas, is still made up of people with personalities.
Reading Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders & Vikings is a little like opening a family album only to have the photographs come to life. You’re not just seeing faces and names — you’re walking with them, smelling the smoke of their fires, feeling the pitch of their ships, hearing the conflicting voices in their own heads. And in the process, you’re reminded that the past isn’t a static backdrop; it’s an inheritance alive in us, whether we acknowledge it or not.
For me, there was a particular thrill when the Norse connections emerged — that moment when a vague ancestral whisper suddenly has shape and context. But you don’t need any personal Viking bias to appreciate the scope of the book. Whether your interest lies in Puritan migrations, Scottish clan histories, or the human cost of colonisation, Nicholson delivers it with warmth, precision, and an instinct for the telling detail.
By the time I reached the last page, I felt both satisfied and a little bereft — the kind of bittersweetness that comes from having to say goodbye to characters you’ve travelled alongside through such richness. Much like The Last Witch on Skye, this novel lingers, not because of any single dramatic twist, but because it leaves you with a deepened sense of connection: to your own past, to the universal challenges of survival and belonging, and to the idea that perhaps our ancestors are never as far away as we think.
If you love historical fiction that is immersive without being ponderous, or if you’ve ever wished you could step into the shoes of the people who made you possible, Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders & Vikings will take you there — and make sure you come back changed.