The Pale Horseman Novel by Bernard Cornwell

Uhtred is a Saxon, cheated of his inheritance, and adrift in a world of fire, sword, and treachery. He has to make a choice: to fight for the Vikings, who raised him, or for King Alfred the Great of Wessex, who dislikes him.

In the late ninth century, Wessex is the last English kingdom. All the rest have fallen to the Danish Vikings, and the Vikings want to finish England. They assemble the Great Army, whose sole ambition is to conquer Wessex. Yet fate, as Uhtred learns, has its own imperatives. When the Vikings attack out of a wintry darkness to shatter the last English kingdom, Uhtred finds himself on Alfred's side.

About the Author

Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed Richard Sharpe series, set during the Napoleonic Wars; the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles, about American Civil War; the Warlord Trilogy, about Arthurian England; and, most recently, Stonehenge 2000 B.C.: A Novel and The Archer's Tale.

Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC TV for seven years, mostly as producer on the Nationwide programme, before taking charge of the Current Affairs department in Northern Ireland. In 1978 he became editor of Thames Television's Thames at Six. Mr. Cornwell lives with his wife on Cape Cod.