Alasandra's Book Club ~Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell

This is the third book in the series. In the previous books Uhtred's Uncle AElfric betrayed his brother, Uhtred Senior and stole his kingdom. The priest Beocca managed to hold on to documents proving Uhtred is the rightful ruler of Bebanburg. Uhtred was captured by the Danes, and was raised as Ragnor Senior's foster son. While Ragnor Junior was away on a Viking raid Kjartan the Cruel attacked Ragnor Senior and killed everyone except Ragnor's daughter Thyra who was taken prisoner and Uhtred and Brida who were in the hills at the time of the attack. To escape Kjartan they were forced to flee to the Saxon territories. Uhtred joined King Alfred's forces and helped him win Wessex. Ragnor Junior (who will here after be referred to as just plain Ragnor) was taken prisoner by Alfred and held as a hostage.

In Lords of the North Uhtred returns home in an attempt to find and free Thyra, take revenge on Kjartan and his son Sven the One-Eyed and to regain Bebanburg. He achieves two out of three impossible missions. Along the way he meets and befriends Guthred the Slave King and marries Guthred's sister Gisela.

I am eagerly awaiting book 4.

We read the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles awhile back and I was very impressed with how he dealt with the American Civil War. He actually took the time and trouble to discuss all the complex issues that lead up to the Civil War, instead of just blaming it on slavery as too many of our textbooks do. We are going to read the Sharpe Novels this summer.