Dear Mr Cornwell
I read my way avidly through The Last Kingdom and all the subsequent books about Uhtred, and fully believed I had read your very best. Then this winter I decided to ‘read’ (actually, listen to on Audible) your Arthurian trilogy. I have rarely been so taken up with a story as I was with these; I thoroughly enjoyed the re-telling of the story of Merlin, Arthur, Nimue and Guinevere, and loved the depth of detail with which you have brought each of the characters to life. Your depiction of a complex Arthur is the literary equivalent of an oil painting! And once again the portrayal of spiritual and religious life, and the agonising transition from the old ways to the new, was deeply fascinating and sympathetically told. And finally, your skill in building the emotional depth has been quite arresting. The beautiful and searingly sad episode of Tristan and Yseult, the murder of Derval’s youngest daughter, the final farewell to the mortally wounded Arthur, and many more scenes were all deeply moving. To finish any book is to feel quite an emptiness, to finish these three is to feel lost! Thank you so much for all of this.
Karen Fleming