I’d like to preface by saying that I am a massive fan of almost all of your book series (Sharpe and The Last Kingdom being my personal favourites) and I am waiting with bated breath for book eleven in Uthred’s wonderful tale.
My question is regarding events in book six of the Last Kingdom series, “Death of Kings”. Specifically, Uthred’s journey to Ely (Eleg) at the beginning to meet King Eohric of East Anglia.
Now, I come from a village a few minutes outside of the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire where Uthred stays in the book for an evening, and I must confess, I was beside myself with excitement when Uthred arrived there, only until we got the less than stellar description of it!
“I had not visited Bedanford before, and discovered a sad, half-deserted town that had shrunk to a frightened village”
And just when I was getting excited for the final showdown with the Danish forces just outside of Bedford at the end, they end up fighting near Huntingdon!
This is on top of the scene in book 4, “Sword Song”.
“…’What’s Durocobrivis?’ I asked Huda.
‘We call it Dunastopol,’ he said with a shrug to indicate that the place was
neglegible”
As the ambassador of all of your fans in Bedfordshire, can we hope to see more of the greatest county on earth?
In all seriousness, Mr Cornwell, I can’t thank you enough for the stories you write, and I look forward to reading many more of them.
Kyle Barron