REVIEWS OF PREVIOUS NOVELS
A very exciting story, but then again I always expect that from this great author.
Great book, very historically accurate and well written.
Fun read. Great historical series, engaging characters, intriguing plotlines and backstories
Culley is a really talented writer of historical fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Oswald defeats the invading horde from Wales and Mercia and establishes himself as King of Northumbria against substantial opposition. After escaping a Mercian ambush he sends his close friend Eochaid to rescue Aidan, who is a fugitive in pagan Strathclyde. Together he and Aidan establish the first monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and start to convert the North to Christianity.
At home Oswald struggles to cope with deteriorating relationships with both his mother and his son and, whilst he manages to ally himself with Wessex against Mercia, he suffers a series of reverses elsewhere in the south of England. Meanwhile his brother Oswiu is fighting against a rebellion within the kingdom, together with a concerted assault by the ferocious Picts and their allies from Strathclyde.
Eochaid becomes estranged from Oswald just before he leaves to become a king in Ireland and they part on bad terms, never to see each other again. Oswald and Oswiu are then left to face an escalating war on two fronts against Northumbria.