The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase By Joan Aiken

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase tells the tale of cousins Sylvia and Bonnie Green.
Bonnie’s parents are feared drowned at sea, and the family home falls under the control of a scheming governess, Miss Slighcarp. Sylvia and Bonnie must summon all their courage and guile if they are to thwart the governess’s evil plans.

Intriguingly, the novel is set in an alternative history. The year is 1832 and Good King James III has just acceded to the throne. The Channel Tunnel has been completed, and harsh winters have led to wolves from northern Europe colonising the British Isles via the newly built tunnel. The wolves add a sense of foreboding to the story.

I found the story gripping, and wondered at the bleak outcome for the cousins as Miss Slighcarp holds all the cards in a seemingly impregnable position. No adults are aware of the girls’ plight, save two kindly servants who manage to avoid suspicion under the ever watchful eye of the governess.

The harsh snowy landscape and the ever present fear of attack from packs of wolves serve to heighten the tension and unease felt in the reading of the girls’ precarious adventures.

The Burning Land, by Bernard Cornwell

The Burning Land continues the story of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, Saxon warrior raised by Vikings following a successful Norse raid on his father’s lands.

The novel is the fifth in the series of novels of the making of England, in which Uhtred plays his role during the reign of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, the last Saxon kingdom, seemingly doomed to fall under the sway of growing Viking dominance.

In the year 899 Alfred’s health is failing, and the King is determined that his son, Edward, accede to the throne and maintain a kingdom which not only stands firm against the Vikings, but extends its power to rule over all the Angelcyn, a united England, or Englaland.

Uhtred has his own personal agenda, and in spite of former allegiances to Danish brethren, finds himself sworn to fight for Wessex. This is a time of flux; a struggle between Christianity and Paganism and the fight for dominance over all kingdoms.

We journey with Uhtred from Wessex to Northumbria where his uncle still holds the impregnable Saxon fortress of Bebbanburg,  maintaining an uneasy truce with the Danelaw, the Viking held lands of Mercia and East Anglia.

Before Uhtred can consider how to regain the fortress taken from his father, he must help Alfred defeat not one but two Viking forces.

Once again Bernard Cornwell paints a vivid picture of the Dark Ages. Cornwell uses meticulous research, enthusiasm and his innate talent for telling an exciting story. I read the first four novels a number of years ago, but was immediately drawn back into the struggle in the brutal world of Saxons and Vikings. An excellent read.

http://www.bernardcornwell.net/