WOLVES OF WINTER: ESSEX DOGS TRILOGY BOOK 2

October 12th 2023 !!! Ask me about it in the comments on this post...

• Wolves of Winter is coming…

• UK pre-orders here. International to follow soon.

• AMA in the comments below (subs only). I can’t tell you international publication dates, but I’ll give everything else a go.

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In September 1346 a weary, bloodied English army commanded by King Edward III arrived outside the city of Calais. The army had been in the field all summer. They had scored a spectacular against-all-odds victory over their enemies at the battle of Crécy. But it was not clear to most of them what was supposed to happen next.

Were they going home? Trying to goad the French into a second battle? Or trying to win some other prize?

No one quite knew. It’s possible that King Edward himself hadn’t actually decided.

But what developed was one of the most extraordinary and unusual military operations of the later Middle Ages. The English laid siege to Calais - despite the facts that the marshland around the city made siege engines virtually useless, that they lacked the naval strength to immediately blockade its port, that their men were exhausted and starting to think of deserting.

And they didn’t just lay siege. They built an entire town of their own in the marsh, as big as any English settlement outside London. Then they settled down to fight for control of Calais - seemingly willing to go to any lengths and incur any cost to take it.

Given the size and nature of Calais’ defences, and the preparations that had been laid down there in the event of such a siege, that effectively only one strategy could prevail.

Starvation.

The siege of Calais 1346-7 is the setting for my second novel - Wolves of Winter - which is the next instalment in the trilogy begun with Essex Dogs.

It’s released in the UK on October 12th this year, and pre-orders are now open. (Other territory dates are to be confirmed soon.)

Wolves of Winter follows some of the same characters you have already met in Essex Dogs - Loveday, Romford, Scotsman and the rest of the gang - and introduces some more whom I hope you will find memorable.

It explores the siege both inside and outside Calais, and draws on research I’ve done into some of the more surprising aspects of this astonishing engagement. So it features sex, drugs, guns, pirates, assassination, cathedral desecration and much much more.

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as Essex Dogs. And I’m sure you have questions! So I’ll leave the comments open here to subscribers to this newsletter and will round up some answers in an audio post later in the week.

In the meantime, UK pre-orders are now open, via Amazon, Waterstones and WH Smith.