Dear Mr.Cornwell, I was born at Rochford hospital and raised in Southend-On-Sea, I lived there until I was a few days away from 16 when me and my family moved to Canada, I recently went back on a visit to my home town after 5 years of never even thinking of Essex! I’m going to be honest, I’ve never liked reading, I would avoid books like they were the black plague! But while I was buying supplies for my vacation I spotted your book “The Burning Land” as I walked through a book store, the thing that caught my eye was that it was the first I had seen about Saxons, my ancestors (and proud of it :)) I read the first few pages on the way to the airport and all of a sudden I found myself reading it every day, over and over again, I just couldn’t wait to go buy the next book! I felt like an idiot when I realized it was the latest one :P so I went straight out as soon as I got home and bought every one of the series, I loved everything about them! the way you portray the way of life and attitudes of people in that era and the detail of the battle scenes was amazing! Not to mention many of the places mentioned I am familiar with, well the modern places on their same spot at least! I have always been a HUGE history freak and these books really interested me and kept my coming back for more! I’ve found myself taking pride in where my people and family came from once again! I owe it to you, your books and of course to Uhtred of Bebbanburg :P

Steve Cullen