Set in 900 AD, The Bone Thief follows Wulfgar, subdeacon at Worcester Cathedral and a devoted adherent of Athelfled, Lady of Mercia and daughter of the late Alfred of Wessex. When the Lady's husband falls seriously ill, and Mercia comes under the predatory gaze of Athelfled's brother, Edward of Wessex, it's decided that the vulnerable kingdom needs some divine help. Mercia has no powerful saints of its own, so the Bishop decrees that one should be imported. And who better than St Oswald, whose resting place at Bardney has been once again taken by the Danes? The saint's tomb has been desecrated, but whispers have now reached Mercia that his relics were safely smuggled out of the church beforehand.

The Bishop decides that Wulfgar, who speaks a little Danish, is the perfect candidate to go north and rescue the bones of this mighty saint. It's not the most obvious choice. Wulfgar is in his mid-twenties (though he often comes across as younger) and is still scarred from a childhood of being bullied by his vicious half-brother, Garmund Polecat. A West Saxon by birth (and thus an object of suspicion for any sensible Mercian), he has come to Mercia with the Lady, whom he adores hopelessly from afar. As Wulgar is clearly unable to defend himself, the Bishop sends him off with Ednoth of Sodbury, a belligerent young landowner. Yet this already dangerous mission is complicated further when Athelfled's cousin, the charismatic and ambitious Athelwald Seiriol, asks Wulfgar to deliver some secret messages for him to Danish friends in the North...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/05/07/the-bone-thief-v-m-whitworth/ ( )

3.5 Stars.

This novel was recommended to me at a conference, mainly because it was set in the reign of Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great and Lady of the Mercians. This period is not simply one of personal interest, but of current research for me. There does seem to be a strong ‘sense’ of period, and some of the detail was very interesting.
Also, as another reviewer mentioned, the Catholic religious beliefs of the Saxon characters are not treated with contempt, ridicule or vilified as seems to be the case in some novels.

Mrs Whitworth is clearly familiar with the era she writes about, and can re-create it convincingly for the reader using real events as an inspiration for the story.
The glossary was useful for the unfamiliar terms, and although its over 400 pages its not a heavy or tedious read.

Also, I have to admit though he may not be according to everyone’s taste I did take a liking to Wulfgar- aside from often loose tongue and his unhealthy infatuation with the Viking woman Gunnvor resulting in part from a certain scene in which he sees her in undergarments.
Yes he is weedy, was bullied by other boys as a child so has serious confidence issues, he's a whiner, green around the gill's and certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed- but I think I related to him as the unappreciated underdog who makes an unlikely hero.

His companion Ednoth seemed to be a typical hard-man, a useful balance with Wulfgar’s lack of fighting ability- and subtlety.
The other clerical character, Father Ronan had a grittier and more realistic outlook on life and his outlook and experiences seemed quite realistic for people for the Christians living in the Danelaw in which the established hierarchy of the church had broken down, and in which there might be nobody to perform ancient rites like baptism or confession. That said, I didn’t find him entirely likeable, perhaps because I thought him to be rather sycophantic and willing to compromise what he was supposed to stand for.

Gunnvor, the aformentioned Viking woman I found hard to warm to. She seemed little more than eye candy or and a potential Romantic interest for Wulfgar. Her strength of character, independence and having rescue the men from potentially dangerous situations seemed something of a stereotype perhaps intended to appeal to modern notions of girl-power.

Historically, I couldn’t find many problems, though I am not an archaeologist and so I’m not familiar with material culture and probably wouldn’t spot any errors in this regard. The main issue I had was the language, which often seemed rather too modern with characters using many contemporary terms and phrases. Perhaps this was necessary to allow for better understanding, but language which is too jarringly modern in historical fiction is an issue for me generally. Perhaps it’s just a matter of taste.

My only gripes with the story were that it could perhaps have been resolved more quickly and seemed to drag a little and some of the characters’ actions didn’t seem wholly consistent or plausible.
Without wanting to give away the story, it just seemed incredibly unwise for the other characters to expect Wulfgar go off on his own after all that had happened to them- and I’m really not sure that the Lady of the Mercians would have risked openly allying herself with Æthelwold, the rival claimant to the West Saxon throne.

Overall, this was a good story with some memorable and lovable characters (in spite of their failings) which might appeal to those who aren’t so keen on novels full of battle or bedroom scenes. I’m certainly interested being re-united with Wulfgar the next book, The Traitor’s Pit and only hope his heroism doesn’t involve abandoning his beliefs and convictions.
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This is quite a fun read, filled with wonderful and accurate historical detail (as well as some very plausible speculation).

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially those with an interest in Anglo-Saxon and Viking matters.

I can't wait to start the second book in the series. ( )

Athelfled, the Lady of Mercia and daughter of Alfred the Great, entrusts Wulfgar, a childhood friend and now a cleric, with the task of retrieving the bones of St. Oswald from Bardney, now part of the Danelaw.

I found this rather difficult to get into at first but it turned into quite an exciting adventure story as we watch Wulfgar mature from a naive victim of childhood bullying with a tendency to zone out from what is happening round him into a resourceful adult able to form good relationships with those around him. ( )

Life is full of peculiar coincidences. Having no sooner finished the life story of Oswald Iding, King of Northumbria, than I come across this entertaining novel in which Oswald, now dead some 300 years, features prominently as St Oswald, one of the most revered martyrs in Anglo-Saxon England and whose relics are in high demand. The book is based on a brief, cryptic reference in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which notes that in around 900 AD, Aethelfleda, Queen of Mercia, obtains the bones of St Oswald from where they have been hidden since the destruction of their shrine by the Vikings and has them translated to the Cathedral in Gloucester. From this fragment, Whitworth has constructed a detailed and enthralling story centred around the fictional character Wulfgar, a young priest, who is tasked with retrieving Oswald's bones from their hiding place. With the help of a variety of companions, Wulfgar braves the dangerous journey to snatch the bones from their resting place in Bardney, despite the best efforts of Aethelfleda's rivals, Viking warlords and a particularly evil slave-trader and returns them to Gloucester. The novel is interesting not only for its deftly-handled plotting, well-developed characters and excellent moments of action, but in the way it handles the background of disordered and chaotic 10th century England, still divided into quarrelsome kingdoms and facing the continuing threat of the Danes, who have conquered large portions of eastern England and show every desire to add more territory to their domains. The tensions between English and Dane, Christian and pagan, warriors and church are always evident and inform so much of the story, and Whitworth has done a masterful job of creating the tense, uncertain atmosphere of the time, when England's future was in a state of flux and rapid change in the circumstances of everybody was possible. The book is somewhat slow in the first half and the proliferation of characters and their motivations can get confusing, but the second half is quick and sure, with events moving smoothly but rapidly to a conclusion. It seems this book is the first in a planned series, in which case I will be waiting with anticipation for the next instalment. An excellent read, not great literature by any means, but entertaining and informative. Thoroughly enjoyable. ( )