Dear Bernard,
I am writing to tell you how much I am enjoying your series of books on Uhtred of Bebbanburg, I have just finished Sword Song and am about to read The Burning Land. I was interested to learn of your Canadian father’s Saxon name and ancestry that takes you both back to the Oughtreds of Bamburg Castle. My own ancestry is from 12th century Caithness, where a Norse Viking named Gunni, settled and started the clan name of Gunn.
Consequently, as I have an interest in the Vikings, I began reading novels about them. I started with an excellent one, The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson, followed by books by some other authors, who weren’t as good…..until I came to Uhtred. I will be sad when I finish the last one
Like you, perhaps, I was brought up to go to church and Sunday school. However, in adulthood I no longer believe in any kind of god and have become an atheist, so I very much enjoyed Uhtred’s wry and critical observations of the Christian church. On a recent visit to Denmark, which included a visit to the Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde, I bought a Thor’s hammer amulet for my daughter Ingrid. It was definitely you that put that idea into my head.
Yours, with thanks…………..
Simon Gunn, Ross-shire, Scotland.