All being well, Book II, Among the Outcast, will be released in 2024. The best way to make sure you don’t miss the release is to subscribe to Amy’s monthly newsletter!

Edhelm, Edith, Edwin. It gets confusing, doesn’t it? However, though I knew it might things confusing for readers at first, I decided to do this because that’s how the names of families worked in Alfred’s time. They didn’t have surnames, but everyone within a family would have a similar prefix to their names.

King Alfred’s family is a great example of this. His father was named Aethelwulf. Alfred’s children were named Aethelflaed, Aethelgifu, Aethelryth and Aethlweard. (He also had a son named Edward, who somehow didn’t get the “Aethel” prefix.) His grandson (Edward’s son) was called Aethelstan.

Alfred the Great was a king who ruled the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 871-899 A.D. And he was no ordinary king! Not only did he succeed in liberating his kingdom from the continual threat of invasion by the Danes, but he laboured to re-build Wessex from the inside, educating his people, refining the law code, establishing a navy, translating works of great literature into English, and much more. During the early years of his reign, he suffered several devastating defeats, and throughout his life he struggled with severe illness. In spite of all this, he continued to strive and serve, relying on God and emphasising the importance of Scripture. King Alfred’s life is a powerful testimony to the way in which God brings strength through weakness (2 Cor 12:9-10), using ordinary human beings to accomplish truly great things.

This inscription on the statue of King Alfred in Wantage, England, puts it beautifully:

“Alfred found learning dead, and he restored it. Education neglected, and he revived it. The laws powerless, and he gave them force. The Church debased, and he raised it. The land ravaged by a fearful enemy, from which he delivered it. Alfred’s name shall live as long as mankind respects the past.”

I’ve always been fascinated by King Alfred’s life and times, but my desire to set a story during his reign was sparked when I discovered that he was not only a ruler and a warrior, but a writer and translator. This led me to take a more in-depth look into his life and work. The more I studied him, the more fascinated I became with the heart and story behind this monarch who changed history. It is impossible to fully capture the details of a life such as Alfred’s in one novel, or even a series of novels. However, I hope that Among the Great will help to bring to life this pivotal period in history and will inspire my readers to find out more about this great king.

Dr. Benjamin Merkle’s The White Horse King is an excellent biography on King Alfred.

The Dragon and the Raven by G.A. Henty is a great historical novel that spans most of King Alfred’s reign.

Yes! I have written a detailed research paper on King Alfred’s translation of a poem by the philosopher Boethius.

You can download the paper here.