Hello there,

I have recently just finished reading Death of Kings, which is the first of your novels I have read. I was really impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the whole read! Without a doubt, I’ll be buying some more of your books soon enough.

As of September I will officially be a university history student (hopefully at the University of Southampton) and so naturally the historical nature of Death of Kings was of great interest to me. I noticed in the afterword you mentioned that you had a real ancestor by the name of Uhtred, and I found it really quite fascinating that you were able to trace your family history back all those years.

Looking into my own family history is something I would like to do one day – currently I know virtually nothing beyond just my great-grandparents! I suppose I was wondering then if you traced your family’s history back yourself, or if you hired someone to do it for you, and if you had any advice for someone looking to do the same. Is it something that in fact is fairly easily done, if you know how, or is it just that your family has been particularly prominent in the past?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,

Lewis Brennen