What inspired my Kingdom of the East Angles series?

Sutton Hoo ... a window into Dark Ages Britain.

Check out this replica of the Sutton Hoo helmet. The real one is at the British Museum, London.

The Anglo-Saxons buried their once rich and powerful dead, with treasures for the after-life. Sometimes the burial included a warrior’s horse, or even a ship. A wonderful example of this is at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. There are 18 burial mounds, with barrows for Anglo-Saxon East Anglian royalty. The most famous of all, is the barrow for King Raedwald of East Anglia, who was buried in 625 with a huge hoard of riches, including his ship and this magnificent helmet.

After visiting Sutton Hoo (which is located near Woodbridge, Suffolk, where my mother's family still live), I decided to write a novel set in 7th Century Anglo-Saxon England.

My Dark Ages Historical Romance, Dark Under the Cover of Night (currently free on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and Barnes and Noble) is set around the last year of the life of King Raedwald. It's a love story, but I did a lot of research to make sure the story's historical background 'feels' authentic.

East Anglia was extremely powerful during early 7th Century Anglo-Saxon England. Recently archaeologists discovered the remains of an Anglo-Saxon settlement in Suffolk during the development of a wind-farm.

Watch a BCC video about the find.

Delving into the Dark Ages - setting novels in Anglo-Saxon Britain

It was a time of kings, battles, blood-feuds and sagas - a time when fate ruled men's lives and swords had names. Welcome to Anglo-Saxon Britannia.

I adore writing novels set in the Anglo-Saxon period. This era has a mystical quality and is steeped in myth, legend and conflict. It emerged from nearly five hundred years of Roman occupation and ended with the Norman Conquest in 1066. Along the way, the face of the British Isles changed forever.

A growing market for Anglo-Saxon historicals

Of course, Bernard Cornwall's The Last Kingdom series, and the recent TV series, has really put this era on the map. However, Cornwall is not the only author out there. Outstanding novels like Hild and The Circle of Ceridwen have also helped popularize this period.

I published my first novel in 2012 (Dark Under the Cover of Night), and since then have noticed an increasing number of those who write in the 'Dark Ages'. There's great fodder for stories in the Anglo-Saxon period - from tales of heroic warriors, forbidden love, battles for power, and kings and queens who must make terrible choices. This is the world that many fantasy writers base their imaginary worlds upon. It all started with Tolkien, whose Middle Earth was largely influenced by the language, culture and people of Anglo-Saxon England.

Showcasing authors

To celebrate this exciting period of British history, and to give you a taster of the talent that's out there - I will be inviting some other authors over to my blog over the next week or so. These talented writers will explain why they love writing in this period, and what inspires them.

First up, is Mark Noce on Wednesday 9 March 2016 - so put it in your diary and we'll see you there!

Note: If you are an author of novels set in the Anglo-Saxon period, and would like to be featured on my blog - please get in touch!