Wolf of Wessex

by Matthew Harffy

  At the end of this story, Dunston has somewhat reluctantly accepted the mantle of responsibility gifted to him by his king and Aedwen has found people who have welcomed her as if she were kin. For the time being, they are at peace. But King Ecgberht is old and his reign cannot last much longer. And when a king dies, chaos often ensues. And when the ruler of a kingdom as rich as Wessex dies, war is never far away. The power of the Norsemen is on the rise and Britain will soon see itself beset with an ever-increasing number of invaders.

  How will Dunston and Aedwen cope with the upheavals that will shape the island of Britain and the history of the English people?

  That is for another day, and other books.

  Acknowledgements

  As always, my first thanks go to you, dear reader, for using some of your valuable time to read my writing. Without you, there would be no books. I hope you have enjoyed Wolf of Wessex. If you have, please consider taking a moment to leave a review on your online store of choice and spread the word to friends and family. In a world awash with content, with so many things vying for people’s attention, it is hard to stand out from the crowd and word of mouth is everything.

  As with every book, there are a lot of people who have helped in getting Wolf of Wessex into the finished, published product.

  Thank you to my trusty friends and test readers, Gareth Jones, Simon Blunsdon, Shane Smart, Rich Ward and Alex Forbes. They always provide me with invaluable input that helps me to polish the manuscripts before anyone else sees them and I make too much of a fool of myself!

  Special thanks to Christopher Monk for his help with the Old English.

  Thanks to Robyn Young, for her ideas for a title (even though in the end, I went with something else!).

  Thanks to Steven A. McKay for reading an early draft and giving me some extremely useful feedback. I’d also like to thank Steven and the rest of the online community of authors for all their support. These include, in no particular order, Martin Lake, Giles Kristian, E. M. Powell, Justin Hill, Stephanie Churchill, Gordon Doherty, Angus Donald, Jemahl Evans, Ian Ross, Ben Kane, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Paul Fraser Collard, Christian Cameron, Simon Turney and Griff Hosker. This is not an exhaustive list of all the writers who have helped me in one way or another, and I apologise unreservedly to those I have forgotten to include here!

  I am indebted to Chris Bailey, founder and administrator of the Bernard Cornwell Fan Club group on Facebook. Not only has he been extremely supportive of my writing efforts, he also produced my very own customised axe, based on the description of Dunston’s DeaÞangenga. It is a thing of exquisite craftsmanship and beauty and there is nothing like holding a Viking axe in your hands to get you in the mood to write some rip-roaring fight scenes!

  Thanks to my editor, Nicolas Cheetham, and all of the team at Aria and Head of Zeus for their hard work and dedication to producing great books.

  And lastly, but certainly not least, extra special thanks to my wonderful wife, Maite (Maria, to her work colleagues!), and our daughters, Elora and Iona. They all have to put up with me every day and I know I can sometimes (often) be grumpy when the writing isn’t going according to plan. But I also know that without loved ones to share my highs and lows, whatever I wrote would be meaningless.

  About the author

  MATTHEW HARFFY grew up in Northumberland, England, where the rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline had a huge impact on him. He now lives in Wiltshire, with his wife and their two daughters.

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