Hello Mr. Cornwell,
My name is Joe Hammer, and first I wanted to say thank you for writing such a wonderful series that is The Saxon Stories. Uhtred, and the rest of the cast with every novel, is so well thought-out, and your ability to tell such an engaging narrative while being historically accurate is nothing short of astonishing. I recently finished The Burning Land, and had one question for you.
The death of Gisela was a gut punch, to be sure. You captured Uhtred’s initial torment extremely well – we had known her since book three after all! I was curious why you did not include her funeral? That seemed like it would’ve been an interesting way to display pagan culture with burials. I’m just asking because I was a big fan of Gisela, and since Uhtred obviously loved her deeply, it was curious (to me) that her funeral was left out of the narrative.
Again, I can’t get enough of this series, it is truly amazing. Thank you for writing such outstanding novels and I can’t wait to read the next Uthred tale!
–Joe Hammer