The Last Kingdom....

Before Christmas the BBC aired a wonderful show called 'The Last Kingdom', based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell. For those who didn't see it, it told the story of a fictional Anglo Saxon boy, Uhtred, brought up by Danes in the period of history when England was coming into being. I enjoyed the programme because it was well done and well acted but I also learned a lot about that period of history when England was coming into being. Both Bernard Cornwell and the BBC have gone to the trouble of getting the history spot on. It wasn't an era that I knew a lot about but it is vital to our identity today. We came so close to being called Daneland instead of England as Wessex, the last kingdom, was almost conquered. It was saved by Alfred the Great in the real world but with the help of Uhtred in this fictional account.

I spotted another book with the same character, Uhtred, continuing the story in our local ASDA. I put it in my Christmas list and the man in the red suit came good. It was called 'Warriors of the Storm', a throughly good adventure through early England, well written and researched.

I thought that was about it until I mentioned to a friend I'd enjoyed the TV series and the book. He informed me that there were some others in the series. Seven in fact. He had them all and he's lent me the full series. That's my reading organised up to Easter and probably beyond!