The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
In AD 865 a Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia, and for the next decade it campaigned throughout England, moving rapidly by river and road. Unlike earlier Viking raids which had been largely hit-and-run affairs, seizing silver and slaves from exposed coastal...
400 years before the First Crusade, Christianity was on its knees before an ascendant Muslim Caliphate. Yet only 80 years before that, in AD629, the late Roman Emperor Heraclius had staged a grandiose ceremony in the city of Jerusalem to mark the Empire’s final and...
A Burning Sea is the third instalment of Theodore Brun’s Wanderer Chronicles. Up until now the series, set in the eighth century, has been a Viking Saga. In this latest book the troubled hero, Erlan Aurvandil, turns his back on the dark pagan forests of Scandinavia...
What prompted you to choose the period that you wrote your first book in? I’ve always loved history from an early age – all those holiday trips to the castles of Wales must have had an impact. However, it was not until I went to university in the late 1980s that I...
I’m used to dealing with warriors. I’m not sure what to make of the man before me. I’ve heard a great deal about King Alfred. It seems much of it is true. I confess I’m disappointed. I came here to find an ally in arms, prepared to assist me in beating back the...
What prompted you to choose the period that you wrote your first book in? I studied history at University and fell in love with the period before 1066 in Britain and the wider Scandinavian world. But I discovered my first historical character, Ealdorman Leofwine (from...
Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on Amazon Articles Click on the links below to read the full article[dpdfg_filtergrid custom_query="advanced" use_taxonomy_terms="on" multiple_taxonomies="name_of_author"...
Simon Sebag Montefiore 2020 has been a stellar year for brilliant books and given Covid, I don’t think I’ve read so many books. I recommend India in the Persianate Age by Richard M Eaton, a brilliant, gripping, refreshing and scholarly history of India from 1000AD to...
Damien Lewis My new book, SAS Band of Brothers is all about bringing history alive. Making a decades-old conflict like WWII feel accessible and real. In a similar vein I tend to read gripping, visceral narrative history that can and does inspire. So, don’t be put off...
The modern city of Istanbul has been known by many names. Constantinople, Miklagard, the New Rome, the Queen of Cities, the Great City, Byzantium. But by any name, it has been the setting for many a great novel (and some not so great ones). I suppose when it comes to...
