Hereward the Wake looms large in new novel, ‘Thunderstruck’
Thunderstruck, a supernatural tale for readers aged 12 and over, explores themes of love, loss, and the power of self-belief, as well as offering an alternative view on the historical character of Hereward the Wake.
Hereward, an iconic figure in the history of England – who has been described as a ‘medieval guerrilla’ and freedom fighter – led the Saxon resistance to the Normans at the Siege of Ely during the Norman Conquest.
He is not as recognisable as, say, Robin Hood, but he is something of a folk hero and a much-loved symbol of defiance in the fenland region of Ely and Cambridgeshire.
His life is shrouded in mystery, and while he is not a major character in the book, his leadership provides the backdrop to the story.
Rus Madon – writing as RJ Madon – was born in Cumbria and now lives in Worcester.
He has always had a strong love and fascination for Ely and the surrounding area, and is a regular visitor to these parts.
“The plot is about a girl from modern-day Ely called Freya who’s dealing with the death of her mother, which happened quite a few years before the story starts, and it was under very mysterious circumstances,” explains Rus, who has a passion for history, mythology, and the supernatural.
“But she’s not an ordinary girl, and unknown to her, she’s actually descended from an ancient witch – and that witch is from Asgard.
“Then she discovers a stone, an artefact, which turns out to be part of Thor’s hammer, and she inadvertently sets off a chain reaction of events.
“She gets sent back in time and has a whole load of adventures. And when she goes back, it’s at the time of the Norman Conquest and the Siege of Ely, with Hereward the Wake.”
The novel also offers a unique historical map of the Cambridgeshire fens in the 11th century – and Rus reveals the work that went into creating it:
“I was fascinated how the land around Ely has completely changed over the centuries,” he says.
“In the 11th century, it was a vast marsh and fenland – very different to the farmland we see today, created when the fens were drained by the Dutch in the 17th century.
“I wanted to find out what the region would have looked like during the Norman Conquest.
“It was to this end that I worked with the British Library archive to help recreate a map of how Ely and the surrounding area would have looked.
“The source map has been accepted in the British Library as a piece of historical research. It is a variant of this map which can be found in the front of the book.”
Rus, whose previous novel Beowulf’s Ghost (“again, historical fantasy”) was published in 2022, notes that the Siege of Ely took place in around 1071 – “five years after the Battle of Hastings”.
He continues: “That particular period of history really interested me because before I’d really researched it, like a lot of people you think 1066 it’s all over – one battle, bang, that’s it and it’s Norman rule…
“But it turns out there were many rebellions, and it wasn’t until about 20 years after 1066 that the Normans really had control of England.
“There were quite a few rebellions; certainly in Northumberland there were some major ones, and in Exeter – and one of the big ones was in Ely, which at that time of course was an island.
“It was marsh, fenland and bog. Ely Abbey was there and was the perfect place for all the disaffected nobles and fighters to congregate to make a stand against the Normans.”
Rus was first introduced to Ely’s much-loved hero when he read Hereward the Wake, an historical novel by Victorian author Charles Kingsley.
“I remember back in the 70s reading comics and, they don’t exist anymore, but the magazines for children, Look and Learn and World of Wonder,” he says, “and I remember hearing these stories of Hereward the Wake in the fens fighting the Normans…
“It just stuck in my mind because it’s such a fascinating story – and I’m amazed that more isn’t made of it.
“And for people in Cambridgeshire, he’s almost like a Robin Hood character.
“Whereas Robin Hood of course is world-famous, he [Hereward the Wake] is very much that same kind of character, of fighting against what they saw as the Norman invaders.”
Rus adds: “I use this [Hereward the Wake and the Siege of Ely] as a backdrop, and I researched it quite a lot to make sure the backdrop itself was accurate.
“I do take some liberties; some facts I don’t put in and some I might change a little bit, but the actual core of that historical backdrop is accurate and I really enjoy doing that.”
Now retired, Russ enjoyed a long career in healthcare.
He honed his writing skills at a local writers’ circle, through creative writing courses at the Winchester Writers’ Festival, the Arvon Foundation, and the Golden Egg Academy.
He is working on his third historical fantasy novel as we speak and reveals that it will be set in Roman-occupied Northumberland in around 100-105 AD, “before Hadrian’s Wall was built”.
Thunderstruck, priced £9.99 in paperback, is available now from bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/young-adult/thunderstruck.
