Mr. Cornwell,

my name is Nick Blankinship and I am a descendant of the Blenkinsopp family.  My ancestors castle is in Haltwhistle and not far from your ancestral Bebbanburg.  We can trace our lineage back to Ranulf de Blenkinsopp circa 1200 and given his name, we have deduced some level of Viking or Dane ancestry (also proven via Ancestry.com).  I am wondering if, in all of your vast knowledge exploration while you wrote the AMAZING Last Kingdom books, had you ever come across anything near the Haltwhistle area or a name similar (Blencarn, Blenkins Hope, Blencarns Hope, De Blenkinsoppe, etc).  I’m sure its a longshot but I am more just curious because I know our castles original towers built sometime in the late 1000s or early 1100s.  Thank you for writing these incredible Last Kingdom books.  I am on the 7th book and (after watching the Series first) it is a joy to read so much more!

Cheers/Skal Nick Blankinship