The Last Kingdom

In the year 866, nine-year-old Uhtred is the son of a Saxon lord who rules the great northern fortress of Bebbanburg. When a Danish army sweeps into Northumbria and his father is killed, Uhtred is captured and, over the years that follow, is raised as one of the invaders — learning the Danes' language, their gods, and their savage skill at war, until he is no longer sure which world he belongs to.

Torn between the people of his birth and the people who raised him, Uhtred comes of age as Alfred, the pious young king of Wessex, fights to hold the last unconquered English kingdom against the Danish tide. Uhtred's sword, his cunning, and his divided loyalties will make him invaluable — and dangerous — to both sides.

The Last Kingdom opens Bernard Cornwell's acclaimed Saxon Stories, a sweeping, blood-soaked historical saga of the making of England, seen through the eyes of one of historical fiction's most memorable warriors.