Whenever I put together a history-related blog post, it’s not something I’m writing off the top of my head even if the material springs from research I’ve been doing for the past nine years. I need to double-check everything to … Read More →

She sent her mind elsewhere, across the Narrow Sea to Fécamp, to the massive church hard by her father’s great hall. She was five years old, and her mother was leading her to the side chapel, bidding her place her … Read More →

In 2007 I traveled to Normandy to conduct a little research. One of my objectives was the town of Fécamp – a fishing village on France’s Alabaster Coast. Fécamp is known today for its pretty harbor and its shoreline. It … Read More →

Anyone who tries to write historical fiction about Anglo-Saxon royalty runs into a problem: that would be the names. Many Anglo-Saxon royal names look and sound strange to us today, even if we simplify the spelling. For example: Æthelred, Ecbert, … Read More →

A writer of historical fiction has to endure numerous hardships as she conducts intense research into the period she is hoping to re-create in her book. Surely you know this. My own hardships, for example, included a glorious day of … Read More →

On May 5, 1010, a great battle was fought between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes at Ringmere Heath. At battle’s end, it was the Danes who remained masters of the field of slaughter. It was a terrible loss for England, … Read More →

West Stow Village in Suffolk was a sixth century Anglo-Saxon settlement. Nothing remarkable happened in this spot, it was just a place where several family groups settled to farm and to raise their children. The village stood for roughly two … Read More →

Many of Britain’s historical sites are clearly visible and extremely well preserved, sometimes as museums or parks. London’s Tower, for example, accommodates thousands of visitors a day. The ruins of the abbey at Bury St. Edmunds or the castle at … Read More →

It is a ninety minute drive from Stow-on-the-Wold in Oxfordshire to Holdenby House in Northamptonshire. We didn’t mind it one bit, because it’s a lovely drive, because I was keen to see the countryside, and because at the end of … Read More →