Paul Cobb

Some 50 people came to the village hall in Wye on Friday 22nd November for the launch of Thegn of Berewic, Part One of The Book and the Knife novel series. 

After a glass of wine, the audience settled to hear me talk about 'My Writing Journey' - what in my origins on a Yorkshire Dales farm and my working life in Kent and Sussex (and a bit in Normandy!) inspired me to write a series of novels set in the 11th century. 

Then my guest speaker Dr Andrew Richardson from Isle Heritage gave an entertaining talk on ‘Anglo-Saxon England – Still Relevant Today?’, citing as an example the recent confirmation that bones in a Folkstone church are those of St Eanswythe, granddaughter of Ethelbert, the first English king to convert to Christianity, so hugely important for the continuity of the faith in England since the earliest Saxon times. 

A lively Q&A session followed touching on among other things saints and the English church before the Normans, and how the English language developed from both Anglo-Saxon and Norse roots. Asked about my writing process, I explained how the novel series originally started with the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but the backstory was so compelling it became two novels on their own, explaining the origin of both the conflict and of my two central characters whose lives are devastated by the invasion.  

A book signing followed with guests chatting and enjoying further hospitality. My thanks to my wife Linda for her huge help in organising and promoting the launch, to my helpers on the night Val, Tony, Jenny and Ray, to Derek for the audiovisual and to Chloe Wellecomme for her great photography, as well as to everyone who came. The buzz was fantastic! 

Thegn of Berewic is available in Wye from Ticketyboo in Bridge Street, and you can order a copy from Troubador Publishing