Historical Research in Northumberland

Historical Research in Northumberland

When my husband and I went on holiday a couple of weeks ago to Northumberland, I didn’t realise it would become a research trip! Northumberland is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. I’ve mentioned visiting Cumbria a lot. Not just because of it is a stunning location, but because it is the modern-day equivalent of Rheged, the setting of much of my historical fiction series. Northumberland, then, is where much of the enemy kingdom, Bernicia, was based. A big battle

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A Glimpse into The Reckoning of Rheged

A Glimpse into The Reckoning of Rheged

Hi everyone, today I’m giving you more of a glimpse of The Reckoning of Rheged, due to be published 29th June! You can check out the book trailer a bit later on too. The Reckoning of Rheged is the third novel in my Dark Ages historical fiction series. The series is set in the real historical kingdom of Rheged, which is the modern equivalent of Cumbria. (If you’re interested in more about the history, you can check out this blog post).

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The Kingdom of Bernicia

The Kingdom of Bernicia

This week on the blog, I’m talking about Bernicia, one of several kingdoms in Britain. Before becoming one united kingdom, there were many different tribes and kingdoms grappling for power. (You can read more about what Britain looked like in general in this blog post). The history of Bernicia Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon (Anglican specifically) kingdom from 547-616 AD in the northeast of England. England. After 616 AD, Edwin of Deira takes over the kingdom. He also regains his throne of

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Yorkshire, 1909 – The Setting of my novel

Yorkshire, 1909 – The Setting of my novel

This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk more about the setting of my historical mystery romance novel. I’m currently editing this novel as part of the ‘Now What?’ NaNoWriMo challenge. I wrote this project during NaNo 2021 and I plan to make it a free novel for my newsletter subscribers. So if you’d like to get a free novel and updates of when it’s coming out (hopefully by March or April), then you can sign up here! At the

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Story Snippets and Sneaky Peeks

Story Snippets and Sneaky Peeks

This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk more about the story snippets I’ve been sharing recently on social media. In particular, I thought I’d give some sneaky peeks into a bit more context about the character and what’s going on in the scene. Hopefully without any spoilers!. First, though, I’ll tell you how to make one, in case any writers fancy giving it a go! Story snippets – how to make one I’ve found making story snippets a relatively

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The Disunited Kingdoms of England

The Disunited Kingdoms of England

You might be surprised that there ere so many different kingdoms in England. Today, one united country with one king or queen. In fact, overseas England is often as a synonym for the whole of the UK, but that’s another story altogether! Last time in my ‘World and Setting’ series, I talked about the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. One reader commented she had no idea that there used to be so many different kingdoms in Britain. So, this week on the

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The Kingdom of Mercia – World and Setting

The Kingdom of Mercia – World and Setting

On the blog this week, I thought I’d talk about the Kingdom of Mercia. Mercia was one of the largest kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. It made up much of what would today be the Midlands, but also extended into parts of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. In 600-700 AD, it would become one of the ‘big three’ kingdoms along with Northumbria and Wessex. Mercia in my Novels I’m currently writing my first draft of my 4th historical fiction novel. In it, both

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World and Setting – Edwin of Deira

World and Setting – Edwin of Deira

It’s been a while since I did a blog post about the world or setting of my novels, so this time I thought I’d talk about Edwin of Deira. Deira was an east Yorkshire kingdom. It was originally a Brittonic Celtic kingdom, that was then taken over by the Angles sometime in the 5th century. Edwin became renowned in this period for being a king of both Bernicia and Deira, which would then become the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Edwin was

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The Real Rheged

The Real Rheged

Today’s blog will talk about the real history of Rheged, where my historical fiction series is based. I originally posted this back in 2018, but it didn’t transfer when I set up this new website. When I first wrote it my second novel was in the process of publication and I had just started work on the third. The week before Christmas I finished my second round of major edits on my 3rd historical fiction novel. As I’m now proofreading it

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Location, Location, Location

Location, Location, Location

It was quite a few years ago when I first fell in love with the Lake District. I had just started at Lancaster University (incidentally this was where I met my husband) to study Linguistics. I was soon invited on a trip to the Lakes with some friends from church. I had never visited the Lake District before, but I was instantly bowled over by the huge stretch of Lake Windermere, with towering fells in the distance. I have gone to

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