A Moment's Madness

A Moment's Madness is a historical romance by Helen Kirkman, published by Harlequin in 2003 and set during the warfare between Viking and Saxon forces in England.

Sigrid is a Viking widow with an English raiding party at her heels, and she has run out of options. In a single desperate moment she places herself at the mercy of a Saxon warrior, choosing the shelter his look seems to promise over the certainty of what is coming down the road behind her. She knows it is madness: she has never wanted a man in her life, she and this one have every reason to hate each other, and she has just given him a hold over her that could be used against her absolutely. The novel follows the consequences of that decision for both of them, in a country where the war has made people on the same side suspicious of one another and people on opposite sides bound together.

Kirkman writes medieval romance in which the wider war shapes the private relationship rather than serving as a backdrop, and her couple begin the story already divided by everything they have been taught.