Dear Bernard,
Firstly thank you for your fantastic books on Alfred the Great, in my opinion a much overlooked ‘great’ of British history. I was much intrigued about the way you approached the portrayal of Alfred, his weaknesses both physical and emotional. Certainly not a typical personality portrayal of a dark age king battling Vikings! Did you decide on Alfred’s character for literary purposes to enrich the cultural differences between Alfred and Uthred or as a result of your research of Alfred’s writings and contemporary sources? Other writers like Alfred Duggan have taken a very different approach and I wonder how your decide what personality historical characters have with limited sources to refer to? I’ve successfully used your Saxon stories to ‘convert’ friends and family to your books and your new book is released here on my birthday, so thanks in advance for my present!

Thomas Coukby