England’s Saga of 1066 opens with The War Wolf and an account of the Battle of Fulford Gate. King Harold waits in London for the expected Norman invasion, but it is in the north where the first threat to his crown appears. Tostig, the exiled brother of Harold, has joined forces with Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and launches a surprise attack on the city of York.
Coenred, a huscarl in the service of the brothers, Edwin and Morcar, the Eorls of Mercia and Northumbria, is in York in advance of his lords who plan to winter there. A veteran warrior, he has been schooling the young noblemen, but they are growing weary of a captain who they now see as beneath them. While pondering retirement, Coenred grants protection to Mildryth, a woman made into a young widow by Tostig when he was the Eorl of Northumbria.
When news of the invasion reaches them in York, Coenred cannot abandon his people in a time of danger. He elects to carry his sword once more into battle. Edwin and Morcar crave glory and spurn Coenred’s advice. They choose to meet Tostig and Hardrada at Fulford Gate, before the walls of the city.
King Hardrada has assembled the largest Viking army ever to set foot in England. This will not be a raid for gold as in previous times. He comes for the crown of England itself and Tostig will be the ally to help him achieve his goal. The most famous Viking of his day, undefeated in battle, Hardrada is the War Wolf and the Saxons of York will be his prey.

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For Rapture of Ravens follows hard on the heels of The War Wolf. Edwin and Morcar have fled in defeat to Durham. Coenred, their captain, has gathered to him all that remains of their army had retired to Tadcaster. Mildryth, the woman he has come to love, remains in a York now ruled once again by the Vikings. Tadcaster is close enough to York so that Coenred might know what befalls the people there, but it is also on the road north from London. He hopes to meet with King Harold’s army when it marches to recapture the city.
Harold is caught unawares by his brother, Tostig, and the King of Norway. As unseasonal storms bottle the Norman fleet in a channel port, Harold gambles on a forced march north. He meets with Coenred and then forms a plan based on the information that the huscarl can give him. Together, they take to the battlefield once more. At Stamford Bridge the King of England meets both his errant brother, Tostig, and the King of Norway. Coenred fights not just for his king, but also to rid the land of a great enemy. He looks to live in peace with Mildryth after the day is done, but there will be many bodies left on the field for the rapture of ravens.

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Duke Guillaume of Normandy is ignorant of the absence from London of King Harold. When he steals across the English Channel at midnight, he finds southern England unprotected. Knowing that winter is approaching and that his position is precarious, Guillaume terrorises the local people, hoping to provoke Harold to a rash act.
News reaches the Saxons in the north and they do respond. King Harold calls for all the able Saxons to follow his banner south. Mildryth wants Coenred to honour his promise not to take up his sword again, but she is conflicted. The sense of honour that marked him out to her is the same compunction that forces him to follow where his king leads. A huscarl is a defender of the people. She cannot hold him back when a great danger threatens everyone.
The Norman expedition has been plagued by setbacks. Duke Guillaume’s allies are far from united. Many are looking to return to their own lands. Seeing King Harold build a formidable shield-wall on the road north from Hastings does not inspire Guillaume with confidence. Others may dismiss the Saxons as a peasant army, but the Duke of Normandy will not make the mistake of underestimating his enemy. When they clash everything is yet to be decided. The outcome is unclear. Only when the sun begins to set will either side feel the bite of The Blade’s Fell Blow.

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The Sorrow Song Trilogy in One Volume!

The Sorrow Song Trilogy includes the separate novels, The War Wolf, For Rapture of Ravens, and The Blade’s Fell Blow, in one volume. The Saga of 1066 is recounted from the opening battle at Fulford Gate, to the greatest victory of the Anglo-Saxons against their ancient enemy, the Vikings, at Stamford Bridge, and ends with their final encounter, against the Normans, at Senlatche Ridge, near the town of Hastings.

Follow Coenred, Captain of Huscarls to the brothers, Eorl Edwin of Mercia and Eorl Morcar of Northumbria, as he strides across the battlefields to serve his king, defend his people, but most of all to protect Mildryth, the woman he has come to love.

Desiring only to retire to his estate at Holderness, The War Wolf finds Coenred’s loyalty tested as news of King Harald Hardrada of Norway’s huge Norse army invading Northumbria breaks. His young lords, Edwin and Morcar, see only an opportunity to rival the military glory of their brother-in-law; King Harold Godwinson of Wessex. The young eorldermen’s decision to fight before the walls of York takes the Anglo-Saxon world to the lip of an abyss from which it might never return.

For Rapture of Ravens sees Coenred meeting King Harold at Tadcaster, prior to marching to Stamford Bridge and liberating the City of York from Viking rule. King Hardrada has brought the largest Norse army ever to invade England, but King Harold has defied all expectations, marching north and calling Saxon warriors from all the lands to come and fight their oldest enemy. With the remnants of the force that fought with him at Fulford Gate, Coenred throws himself into the fray with an iron determination to seize victory from a Viking King who has never known defeat before.

While the Saxons celebrate in York, Guillaume, Duke of Normandy, arrives in the south. He is desperate to provoke a conclusive battle before winter arrives, but he has no knowledge of where to find King Harold. Coenred’s dream of living with Mildryth at Holderness is stalled once more; all able warriors are called south to meet this new enemy and, as a man of honour but a huscarl without a lord, he cannot help but answer his King’s summons. At Senlatche Ridge he joins the Saxon shieldwall, dressed in heavy armour, carrying a large round shield, and armed with a spear, a Dane-axe, and his grandfather’s sword, Coenred of Holderness fights the longest battle of his life, standing until the last as the sun goes down on a civilisation over 500 years old. The last days of the Anglo-Saxons suffer The Blade’s Fell Blow.

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