To Be a Queen by Annie Whitehead, £7.99
IN THIS impressive historical novel, Endmoor writer Annie Whitehead tells the story of Aethelflaed, the 'Lady of the Mercians'.
The daughter of Alfred the Great, Aethelflaed was the only female leader of an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom. She was born into the royal house of Wessex at the height of the Viking wars and sent to Mercia as a foster child to her aunt. After the Vikings overrun Mercia, she returns to Wessex only to witness another attack by the Scandinavians.
She falls in love with a Mercian lord but is heartbroken to be given as bride to the ruler of Mercia to seal the alliance between the two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. She must learn to subjugate her feelings for her first love, overcome her indifference to her husband and win the hearts of the Mercians who despise her as a foreigner and twice attempt to killer.
When her husband falls ill and is incapacitated, she has to learn to rule and lead an army; and when he subsequently dies, she has to fight to save her adopted Mercia from the Vikings and, ultimately, her own brother.
A thoroughly researched and entertaining work of historical fiction.
ALLAN TUNNINGLEY
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