Lords of the North

The third installment of Bernard Cornwell's King Alfred trilogy, which comes after the phenomenally successful top ten blockbusters The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman. By the year 878, the Vikings had been driven from Wessex. The dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord named Uhtred assisted Alfred in that triumph, but now he is repulsed by the king's insistence on piety and offended by Alfred's lack of kindness. He leaves Wessex and heads back north in an attempt to avenge the death of his foster father and free his stepsister, who was taken prisoner during the same invasion. He must track down Kjartan, the former adversary and outlaw Danish lord who hides in the powerful castle of Dunholm. When Uhtred comes in the north, he finds disorder, dread, and mutiny. Hild, a West Saxon nun on the run from her vocation, is his lone friend. His sword, with which he has established a strong warrior reputation, is his greatest chance. If he wants to invade Dunholm, he will need the support of other warriors and come across Guthred, a slave who thinks he is a king. He leads him over the Pennines to a desperate coalition of desperate Danes and fervent Christians that raises a fresh army against the evil Viking rulers who control Northumbria. "The Lords of the North" is a gripping tale of passion, treachery, and hardship that takes place in a turbulent, turbulent, and glorious England. Uhtred, a man without land, a fighter without a nation, and a Northumbrian who was brought up as a Viking, has developed into a magnificent hero.