The tale of Wild Edric - the making of a man and of a myth

The skies of Anglo-Saxon England are black with the smoke of burning villages. The once-green meadows and hillsides run red with blood. Newly settled in the borderlands with Wales, the people who call themselves 'Englishmen' face daily attack from the war-bands of their neighbouring tribes. Any bush may conceal a bowman; a raiding party could lie over the brow of any hill.

After helplessly witnessing the destruction of his village and the slaughter of his family, young Edric flees from the marauding 'Welshmen' - the name given by the English to any people not of their own - led by the fearsome and ruthless Madoc the Lucky. Seeking food and shelter, he finds himself in a cave, where a mysterious stranger predicts a wondrous destiny for Edric. Under the stranger's guidance, years of training follow for Edric and the handful of other young survivors from his village, until they are fabulously skilled in the arts of war and ready to confront the mighty Madoc.

Written on the scale of an epic but with the unrelenting pace of a thriller, The Shieldwall is a stirring tale of daring and heroism. Based on historical figures and revealing intimate knowledge of Saxon Britain, it takes the reader into a world where conflict is the key to survival and making war the only hope of finding peace; where savagery is rife, passion runs high, but where courage, wisdom and nobility of spirit may still win out in the end. Giving insight into the ways of the Vikings and Mongols as well as the tribes of Britain, the story reaches its shattering climax in a vivid account of the most famous of all English battles, Hastings.