I've been writing on and off for ever, but I only got down to it properly a few years ago. My first book, Spook School, was published in 2003 by A&C Black. Two more followed - Changing Brooms and Spooks Away - and then in 2006, Walker Books published The Willow Man.

Every now and again, there is a point in history where the fate of a nation depends on one man. The year 878 was one such point. The place was Wessex, the nation was the English, and the man was a king called Alfred. My latest book, Warrior King, which came out in April, is about him and his remarkable daughter, Athelfled. Read more about it here.