Author Description

In 1927 a chance encounter in a public house with the person who found a solid gold bangle whilst walking his dog was a life changing moment in the life of Captain Cornelius Wood. His journal written in 1956 was found only a few years ago by his grand-son, it is a fascinating document, it tells us of his adventures in the underground city of the Nation of the Angeln, a community that has lived in the deepest caves and tunnels below Dudley castle in Warwickshire for a thousand years. They have earned their living collecting the detritus of the upper world as they call it with horses and carts - rags, bones, etc - selling this on to give their women - dressed in upper world clothes - the money to buy produce from Dudley market to supplement their cattle and sheep production which takes place quite openly on the pastureland surrounding the castle. The language they speak, Anglo Saxon, is not so very different to the Black Country spoken by the people of Dudley - this dialect is derived from Anglo Saxon, anyway - so there is never any problems when being served in the market and shops.By hiding themselves this way in full view of the world they have remained undetected for generations. Captain Wood chances on this way of life and is sucked into a power battle that is taking place in the underground city unknown to the rest of the world.This entaglement has an unlikely side effect, he falls in love with the queen of this strange world - the ruling monarch of the Angeln throughout their history has always been a woman - but much to his distress he is not allowed to marry her, her husband by ancient decree has to be of the Angeln, but as is the way of all good romantic stories love eventually triumphs, although not in the straightforward way you might think, there are many hurdles to overcome, not least Queen Cathryn's ambitious brother Aethelfred.