He dreamed of the Viking ideal, sailing to distant shores and battling honorable foes. Laden with gold, he would return home in glory. The same life of adventure that his grandfather, Ulfrik Ormsson, experienced awaited him. It proved a false dream. Along with his cousin and best friend, Yngvar discovers a world unlike the sagas of the great heroes. He encounters murder and treachery. Raiding is nothing more than merciless theft. True riches remain elusive and sea kings dominate the waves. Yngvar trusts to his honor and courage to carry him. Yet powerful enemies swarm all around him. Fate guides him into the teeth of a clash between two of history's mightiest jarls. He will require all his cunning and daring to survive. So begins a new saga of Viking adventure and war. Join the shield wall once more and witness the fierce history of the Norsemen.

    Some of them were entirely lost…a great chastening is upon them unlike any the ancient Christian world has ever seen.” - Alcuin of York, Letter to Arno King Horic is dead. The oaths that once bonded the Danes and Northmen in the islands of Aquitaine have broken. Hasting's new land is imperiled by fearsome challengers and old foes alike. A rumor from the continent will shatter the brittle veneer of his strength and expose his deepest wound from the past. His greatest trial will not be fought with a sword, ax, or shield, but with his heart. A supposed son of Ragnar Lodbrok, and referred to in the Gesta Normannorum as the Scourge of the Somme and Loire, his life exemplified the qualities of the ideal Viking. Join author and historian C.J. Adrien on an adventure that explores the early life and adventures of the Viking Hasting and his crew.

    His son Harald, however, has ambitions beyond just getting home. Given command of one of the ships in the fleet, Harald sees a chance to put his courage on display, unleashing consequences that will lead Thorgrim into a fight against the powerful armies of Wessex, a fight he does not want.As Thorgrim struggles to keep his men alive, his eldest son Odd leads the resistance to King Halfdan's ruthless attempts to expand his rule over Norway. When a plan to bring Halfdan to heel goes terribly wrong, Odd alone is taken prisoner, and brutally punished as an example to those who would defy their king. But Halfdan's brutality does not cow the freemen: rather it stokes their anger into a red-hot rage that only freeing Odd and extracting further vengeance can cool.

    Sven Bersisson has to grow up quickly and to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sweyn Skull Taker, his uncle, becomes his foster father and they raid Wessex and Frankia where the young warrior becomes a man. King Sweyn Forkbeard, the King of Denmark, uses their clan to help in his dream of defeating the Norwegians and then taking the throne of England. Sven becomes part of those plans but when he takes possession of a fabled Dragon Sword, his life changes and he becomes greater than his father could ever have dreamed.Set in the late tenth century, The Danelaw Saga follows the hugely successful Dragonheart series and precedes the Saxon trilogy, Housecarl.

     Groomed for the succession, the king’s eldest surviving son has lived the life of a Viking prince; harrying wherever his longships can reach, from the frozen forests of Bjarmaland to the rocky shores of Brittany and beyond. But none expected Harald to live so long, and as the king enters his ninth decade his powers begin to wane. Seizing their chance other Haraldssons move to snatch the crown for themselves, and a brother war sweeps the land as Erik fights to defend his birthright… Bloodaxe is the first volume in a trilogy which will tell the story of one of the Viking Age’s legendary kings. ALSO BY THE AUTHOR SWORD OF WODEN ‘Entertaining and building into a really good trilogy. If you like Bernard Cornwell or Simon Scarrow you will love this.' KING'S BANE This is a book the likes of friends Cornwall, Kristian and Low, would give their eye-teeth to have written...do what you can or must to get hold of this book, you won’t regret it. SPEESH READS CONQUEROR OF ROME I…enjoyed this far more than most of the commercially published fiction I have read and reviewed in the past two years. HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY REVIEWS

    A land of petty kingdoms and ambitious men...When King Gorm betrays Jarl Harald and puts his family to the sword, he makes a terrible mistake. He fails to kill Harald's youngest son, Sigurd. Hunted by powerful men and hiding in a sacred fen, Sigurd believes the gods have turned their backs on his family. His kin are dead or captured. His village is attacked and its people taken as slaves. Honour is lost. Yet all men know that Ódin, whose name means frenzy, is drawn to chaos and bloodshed as a raven is to the slaughtered dead - and Sigurd means to spill blood.Alone but for a small band of loyal men including his red-bearded friend Svein, his father's right-hand man Olaf, and Asgot the godi, Sigurd hungers to avenge the murder of his family. In an attempt to catch Ódin's eye, the young man sacrifices himself - as the god once did - and it is during this ritual ordeal that Sigurd is shown a vision. The Wolf. The Bear. The Serpent. The Eagle. Sigurd will need all these and more if he is to become a man whom others will follow...and if he is to make kings pay in blood for their treachery.But the gods have spoken and Sigurd's quest begins. Using cunning and war-craft he must gather the fiercest warriors of the north - warriors such as Bram who men call Bear, Black Floki who is death with a blade, and the shield Maiden Valgerd, who brave men fear - and convince them to follow him. For whether or not Ódin is with him, Sigurd will have his vengeance and neither men nor the gods can stand in his way...Be assured that when the blood is flowing, the gods are watching...

    It wasn’t enough.Mercia lies broken but not beaten, her alliance with Wessex in tatters.Coelwulf, a fierce and bloody warrior, hears whispers that Mercia has been betrayed from his home in the west. He fears no man, especially not the Vikings sent to hunt him down.To discover the truth of the rumours he hears, Coelwulf must travel to the heart of Mercia, and what he finds there will determine the fate of Mercia, as well as his own.

    She is put to work at the female factory of Parramatta; a place where the women’s only hope of food and lodgings is to offer their bodies to the settlement’s men. Nell is given shelter by Lieutenant Blackwell, a brooding soldier to whom she is inexplicably drawn. Despite warnings from the other women, Blackwell’s motives seem decent, and beneath the roof of a military officer, Nell sees a chance to become more than just a convict woman sent to the factory to be forgotten. But tensions are high in New South Wales, with the young colony teetering on the edge of a convict rebellion. And as Nell treads a dangerous line between obedience and power, she learns the role of a factory lass is to remain silent – or face a walk to the gallows.

    vivid... gripping. Takes you through a thrilling quest in a violent ancient world." Some secrets are best left unrevealed323 B.C.King Alexander the Great has died without a clear successor and the citizens of a vast empire wait nervously for what comes next. But Captain Deon has other worries—his family will be sold to slavery if he does not clear his debt soon. Desperate, he accepts a mission from Alexander’s wily Royal Secretary in return for a generous reward. All he has to do is steal a papyrus from the King's funeral procession.A papyrus with a stunning secret that can transform the balance of powers that fight for Alexander’s throne.Plunged into the heart of succession wars and thrust between bloody ambitions of greater men, Deon is forced to embark on a dangerous journey and battle those he fears, to decode the ancient clues before time runs out for his family. But the more he learns, the more he realizes that his decisions will decide the life and death of not only his loved ones but also that of millions of innocents.-------- BONUS: Join the newsletter on the author's website to get a free "History behind the book" that sheds light on some of the interesting events after Alexander's death.

    Bjarki Bloodhand and Tor Hildarsdottir are journeying south into Saxony. Their destination is the Irminsul, the One Tree that links the Nine Worlds of the Middle-Realm. In this most holy place, they hope to learn how to summon their animal spirits so they can enter the ranks of the legendary berserkir: the elite frenzied fighters of the North.One Christian kingKarolus, newly crowned King of the Franks, has a thorn in his side: the warlike Saxon tribes on his northern borders who shun the teachings of the Church, blasphemously continuing to worship their pagan gods.An epic battle for the soul of the NorthThe West’s greatest warlord vows to stamp out his neighbours’ superstitions and bring the light of the True Faith to the Northmen – at the point of a sword. It will fall to Bjarki, Tor and the men and women of Saxony to resist him in a struggle for the fate of all Europe.

    How The Man Became A Legend. The origin story of Sidroc the Dane, a new standalone entry point into The Circle of Ceridwen Saga. Read first, read last, read between any of the Saga novels. But read it and learn how Sidroc became Sidroc. A discarded child Fated to become a powerful Jarl – here is the story of Sidroc. Fate guides the path of his father, Hrald, to his meeting with the woman whose son would help change the face of 9th century Angle-land. An ever-growing rivalry between Sidroc and his cousin Toki defines the boys’ early years. Their young uncle, Yrling, knows success as a raider in far-off Angle-land, and trains his nephews in the ways of the warrior. Ahead of them is the perilous crossing of the North Sea, which stands between them and the plunder they seek. Once on the great island of Angle-land, hard fighting awaits, through which Sidroc rises to second in command in the war-band headed by Yrling. Then, at their captured Saxon stronghold, comes the young woman for whom Sidroc will one day change his life… Dovetailing into Book One of The Circle of Ceridwen Saga, Sidroc the Dane a book to be savoured at any point on the journey. Enter the Circle here.

    Central to the story is Alvar, earl of Mercia. Having helped King Edgar to secure the throne, amid great unrest he must fight to clear the queen’s name, bring the country back from the brink of civil war, and stabilise the monarchy for Edgar’s son, Æthelred the Unready. He does this at great personal cost, and his enemies will stop at little: Abbot Dunstan, banished, recalled, and in no mood to forgive. Bishop Oswald, the ambitious foreigner who will let nothing stand in his way. They must not discover Alvar’s secret love for the wife of his deputy, whilst Alvar must keep her safe, and serve and protect the queen, who is in love with him and who harbours a dark secret of her own… Honoured with an IndieBRAG medallion and a Discovering Diamonds Special Award, this book has also been chosen as a Chill Books honouree and Book of the Month. “Ms Whitehead knows her stuff - A must-read for anyone interested in the early Anglo-Saxon period” – Helen Hollick

    Now, the old world crumbles.  Pirates roam the seas, bandits threaten the highways, and barbarian refugees land at Britannia's shores, uninvited. The rich profit from the chaos, while the poor suffer. A new Dark Age is approaching - but all is not lost.Ash is a Seaborn, a Saxon child found on the beach with nothing but a precious stone at his neck and a memory of a distant war from which his people have fled. Raised on the estate of a Briton nobleman, trained in warfare and ancient knowledge, he soon becomes embroiled in the machinations and intrigues at the court of Wortigern, the Dux of Londinium, a struggle that is about to determine the future of all Britannia. A child of Saxon blood, an heir to Roman family, his is a destiny like no other: to join the two races and forge a new world from the ruins of the old.The Saxon Spears is the first volume of the Song of Ash saga, perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell's "The Last Kingdom" series, Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden.

    Neither option particularly appealed to her.Then an offer for her hand is made by a mischievous looking lord from across the sea. Despite her family's wishes she refuses to sell herself short. She agrees to marry him but in exchange he must give her a kingdom. After all, if she is going to tie her fate to a stranger, she might as well be a queen.In time she would be called the Pride of Denmark but for now she is just Thyra...This book is part of the Forgotten Women of History series but can be read as a standalone.

    When she is offered the opportunity to move to Texas as a mail-order bride, she jumps at the chance, hoping to be able to start a new life. Her new husband, and her new home, aren’t everything she dreamed they would be, and she must learn to adjust to life as a married woman. Abner Phelps has wanted a wife for years, but none of the women in Nowhere, Texas will give him the time of day. When he approaches Edna Petunia Sanders about finding him a bride, she immediately agrees to send away for a mail-order bride for him. When his new bride arrives, she’s everything he dreamed she could be. Will he be able to convince her that he is her one and only love? Or will she spend the rest of her life pining for what she doesn’t have?