Dear Mr Cornwell,

For the sake of brevity, please take the usual complements as read but nonetheless sincerely meant.

I was intrigued to see that in Warriors of the Storm, you have chosen to site Brunanburh on the Wirral Peninsular. Without wishing to pre-empt book 10, presumably and logically it will be the site of the subsequent Battle of Brunanburh in the spring or summer of 937. As you doubtless know, despite its importance to English (and indeed British) history, the date is as unknown as the actual battle site, which is disputed by several other contending locations.

My question is whether you had considered the merits of the claims of the other contending sites, which would have been your second choice and why you opted for the Wirral (which admittedly seems to be the more favoured location amongst academic opinion).

Best wishes for 2016.

Peter Ranson.

Having just finished  THE EMPTY  THRONE, I would like to comment on an alternative location for BRUNANBURH.

If you take a look at the Runcorn / Widnes railway bridge  on Google you will find that it is known locally as the Aethelflaed bridge. According to local historians the south pier of the bridge is built on the remains of Queen Aethelflaed Burh on the banks of the Mersey at Runcorn If so, then the dream of King Alfred for the kingdom of England was started in Runcorn at this site Your thoughts please.

David Duckett