Barbara Denvil - The Flame Eater

Outside the stars were still singing. David smiled.

Dear Reader,

Once again we get to the end, so where should we go from here? Can we recapture that wonderful journey to Medieval England? Are you ready for the next expedition? Join Alex in his medieval venture.

England, 1485. Alex has just survived the bloody chaos of the civil war at Bosworth, he’s lost both his father and his King. But has found instead, a young girl disguised as a boy, hiding from the soldier’s intent on rape.

Becoming a servant may be Alex’s only option in a world turned upside down… His closest cousin has been murdered and he finds himself accused.

If you loved ‘ The Flame Eater’, Then this could be the next book for you, with even more mystery and just as much fun.

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My novel is fiction and my principal characters are fictional. But I am, as always, strict concerning the absolute historical accuracy of my settings, background situations and various authentic figures of the past.

Anyone can make mistakes. I probably do, although unwittingly, and I apologise for any that may creep in. But I make every effort towards accuracy, and in this I am exceedingly indebted to friends who know more than I do, and to the many non-fiction books which have provided for my endless research over the years.

Christopher Urswick is a genuine historical character, priest and personal confessor of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor who eventually became the first king of the Tudor dynasty. Urswick later supported Tudor’s invasion, and before this acted as a messenger between the exiled Henry in Brittany, his mother in England, and John Morton who had escaped abroad in 1483.

Polydore Vergil, Henry VII’s official biographer who obtained his information directly from his king, tells us that back in early 1485, following the persistent rumours that King Richard III was considering marrying his niece, Elizabeth of York, (a slightly absurd rumour which we now know as untrue since at the time King Richard was negotiating to marry the daughter of the King of Portugal, and the Portuguese Manuel to marry Elizabeth) Henry secretly sent Christopher Urswick to England with a letter for the Earl of Northumberland, seeking a marriage with any one of the Herbert girls, who were the earl’s sisters-in-law. The letter was intercepted, Vergil informs us, and was never received by Northumberland. At that time this comparatively unimportant exile and proclaimed traitor was by no means an obvious candidate for marriage to a young English heiress, closely related to one of the greatest of the existing nobility.

Yet it appears that Henry Tudor had some expectation that his proposition would be acceptable to Northumberland, and that the earl would agree to negotiate Tudor’s alliance within his close family.

This opens many questions, but these cannot be answered unless further documentation comes to light in the future, and I do not attempt to cover those points in my book. Christopher Urswick’s presence in England as related in my novel, and the reason for it, is therefore historically accurate. As are the related movements of the Marquess of Dorset, and the situation relating to the king, Richard III, at that time.

I should particularly like to thank the eminently helpful and knowledgeable Annette Carson and her several important non-fiction books on the subject and in particular RICHARD III: THE MALIGNED KING, which is a continuous source of both delight and expert information.

I should also like to thank my wonderfully patient and endlessly helpful family, in particular my daughter Gill and my granddaughter Emma, without whom I could not have published any of my novels.

My passion is for late English medieval history and this forms the background for my historical fiction. I also have a love of fantasy and the wild freedom of the imagination, with its haunting threads of sadness and the exploration of evil. Although all my books have romantic undertones, I would not class them purely as romances. We all wish to enjoy some romance in our lives, there is also a yearning for adventure, mystery, suspense, friendship and spontaneous experience. My books include all of this and more, but my greatest loves are the beauty of the written word, and the utter fascination of good characterisation. Bringing my characters to life is my principal aim.

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