The Flame Bearer

*Don’t miss WAR LORD by Bernard Cornwell, the epic conclusion to the globally bestselling Last Kingdom series – available to buy now*

The tenth book in the epic and bestselling series that has gripped millions.

A hero will be forged from this broken land.

As seen on Netflix and BBC around the world.

From the day it was stolen from me I had dreamed of recapturing Bebbanburg. The great fort was built on a rock that was almost an island, it was massive, it could only be approached on land by a single narrow track – and it was mine.

Britain is in a state of uneasy peace. Northumbria’s Viking ruler, Sigtryggr, and Mercia’s Saxon Queen Aethelflaed have agreed a truce. And so England’s greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, at last has the chance to take back the home his traitorous uncle stole from him so many years ago – and which his scheming cousin still occupies.

But fate is inexorable and the enemies Uhtred has made and the oaths he has sworn combine to distract him from his dream of recapturing Bebbanburg. New enemies enter into the fight for England’s kingdoms: the redoubtable Constantin of Scotland seizes an opportunity for conquest and leads his armies south. Britain’s precarious peace threatens to turn into a war of annihilation.

But Uhtred is determined that nothing, neither the new enemies nor the old foes who combine against him, will keep him from his birthright. He is the Lord of Bebbanburg, but he will need all the skills he has learned in a lifetime of war to make his dream come true.

Reviews

Praise for THE FLAME BEARER:

‘This is the best series Cornwall has written in an impressive career, and The Flame Bearer, which is as clever as it is bloody, holds its own.’

Praise for Bernard Cornwell:

‘Like Game of Thrones, but real’ OBSERVER

‘A phenomenal storyteller’ DAILY EXPRESS

'Blood, divided loyalties and thundering battles' THE TIMES

'Strong narrative, vigourous action and striking characterisation, Cornwell remains king of the territory he has staked out as his own' SUNDAY TIMES

'A violent, absorbing historical saga, deeply researched and thoroughly imagined' WASHINGTON POST

‘The best battle scenes of any writer I’ve ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive’ George R.R. Martin

‘Cornwell draws a fascinating picture of England as it might have been before anything like England existed’ THE TIMES

‘He’s called a master storyteller. Really he’s cleverer than that’ TELEGRAPH

‘A reminder of just how good a writer he is’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Nobody in the world does this better than Cornwell’ Lee Child

About the author

Bernard Cornwell was born in London, raised in Essex and
worked for the BBC for eleven years before meeting Judy, his
American wife. Denied an American work permit he wrote a
novel instead and has been writing ever since. He and Judy
divide their time between Cape Cod and Charleston, South
Carolina.