[The Saga of Wessex 01] • The Great Heathen Army

The Viking horde known as the Great Heathen Army invade Cent in the autumn of 865 AD and defeat the local Saxon fyrd at the Battle of Salteode. A youth called Alric is captured and his brother, thirteen year old Jørren, decides to undertake the seemingly impossible task of rescuing him. Accompanied only by a slave not much older than he is, Jørren sets out to find Alric.

His quest takes him into war-torn East Anglia and up through Northumbria as far as Hadrian’s Wall. On the way he gathers a rag-tag collection of orphans and welds them into a small, tightly-knit, warband.

They play a small, but important, part in the struggle against the Vikings before eventually reaching Wessex, where Alfred has just become king. Now older and an experienced warrior, Jørren joins him and over subsequent years rises in status to become one of Wessex’s ealdormen.

However, the Vikings are determined to defeat Alfred and complete their conquest of England. By 871 AD it is doubtful whether Jørren or Wessex itself can survive their onslaught.

This first novel in the Saga of Wessex series will enthral all readers who have come to love H A Culley’s previous books set in early medieval Northumbria.