Hi from a fellow Beamfleot boy,
Just wanted to say thank you for getting me through the lock-down in the UK.
I’ve been reading your Saxon Chronicles/Last Kingdom series and they are fantastic. You are as they say; a master storyteller.
I’ve always struggled to read regularly in the past, due to work pressures. When I did get time to read, I’d be too tired and fall asleep. No chance of that with your writing! I got so absorbed my wife felt Uhtred was a third person in our relationship!
It was the TV series which steered me toward your books. But I must say, the TV adaptation is black and white against the virtual reality technicolour of your writing. I began reading the series from Death of Kings as that was where I guessed the 3rd TV series had finished, but I am now going back to start again with The Last Kingdom, to get the full picture.
Like you, I am a history nut. I’ve no degrees or anything, but I love it! Especially Saxon times, Edward III and London history. Wyrd bio ful araed, as they say! I was born in east London, lived most of my life near Hadleigh country park with its Saxon roundhouse and the ruins of one of Edward III’s favourite castles and when I did leave to live in France for 8 years, it was to a hamlet with a 12th century priory and 45 minutes from Poiteirs! (I worked just round the corner from the battle site!) Small world.
So, enough of my prattling: Thank you for sharing your amazing gift. I am very much looking forward to reading the full story of Uhtred’s early years and once I have finished them, it will be straight on to Harlequin and the Grail Quest. Edward III’s reign is so fascinating. He’s the SAS of English monarchs. I don’t understand why there is so much coverage of kings like Henry VIII and little on some of the truly legendary monarchs England has had.
Sorry, babbling again.
Keep well and keep writing.
Paul