The Cross and the Curse

BRITAIN 634 A.D.
Before The Battle of Hastings.
Before Alfred fought the Danes.
Even before England.

Warlords battled across Britain to become the first King of the English.

When Beobrand’s valour brings about a stunning victory against the native Waelisc, the King of Northumbria rewards him with riches and land. Beobrand wishes for nothing more than to settle on his new estate with his bride. But he soon finds himself beset with enemies old and new. He even fears that the power of a curse has him in its grip, as he begins to lose all he holds dear.

With treachery and death surrounding him, Beobrand confronts his foes with cold iron and bitter fury. On his quest for revenge and redemption, he grudgingly accepts the mantle of lord, leading his men into the darkest of nights and the bloodiest of battles.

The Cross and the Curse is the second novel of the Bernicia Chronicles.

PRAISE FOR THE CROSS AND THE CURSE

"A tale that rings like sword song in the reader's mind. Harffy knows his genre inside out and The Cross and the Curse proves it."
GILES KRISTIAN (Author of God of Vengeance and the Raven series)

"The Cross and the Curse is a terrific novel that strikes just the right balance between fact and fiction, the plausible and the romantic, and it illuminates the Dark Ages like the bolt of lightning in its first few pages: in rare and unexpected ways. Top stuff."
TOBY CLEMENTS (Author of the Kingmaker trilogy)

"The best historical fiction enables the reader to simultaneously live in the here and now and the then and there. Matthew Harffy has this skill in abundance. He is one of the most accomplished and exciting voices in the field today. I love his novels."
MARTIN LAKE (Author of A Love Most Dangerous and The Lost King series)

"Harffy allows the reader to peel back the layers of Dark Age society beyond the implicit violence. His wordage is skilful and beautifully wrought, rather like a perfect damascened sword."
PRUE BATTEN (Author of The Gisborne Saga and The Triptych Chronicle)

"Matthew Harffy has created a gritty, authentic world, home to a hero who shows us the complexity of what it means to be human – the darkness and the delight. The Cross and the Curse is historical fiction at its finest."
STEPHANIE CHURCHILL (Author of The Scribe's Daughter)