The Cross and the Curse cover art

The Cross and the Curse

The Bernicia Chronicles, Book 2

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Cross and the Curse

By: Matthew Harffy
Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

About this listen

634AD. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical thriller and second instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell.

Warlords battle across Britain to become the first king of the English. After a stunning victory against the native Waelisc, Beobrand returns a hero. His valour is rewarded with wealth and land by Oswald, king of Northumbria. He retires to his new estate with his bride only to find himself surrounded by enemies old and new.

With treachery and death on all sides, Beobrand fears he will lose all he holds dear. On a quest for revenge and redemption, he accepts the mantle of lord, leading his men into the darkest of nights and the bloodiest of battles.

©2016 Matthew Harffy (P)2016 Audible, Ltd Historical Thriller & Suspense

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Serpent Sword cover art
Kin of Cain cover art
A Time for Swords cover art
Wolf of Wessex cover art
Odin's Game cover art
The Ill-Made Knight cover art
English Knight cover art
Viking Slave cover art
Warrior and Protector cover art
Blood on the Crown cover art
Into the Wilderness cover art
Lord Edward's Archer cover art
Viking Blood and Blade cover art
Warrior: The Epic Story of Caratacus, Warrior Briton and Enemy of the Roman Empire cover art
The Lords of the Wind cover art
Crécy: The Age of the Archer cover art
All stars
Most relevant
The book is very good Once you start reading it you can't putt it down Great story

Great to read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
MH is a new author to me. But Barnaby Edwards is known from Mortal Engines. Add a good story with a great reader and you have the basis for enjoyable listening.

Really good listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm hooked. The narration is fantastic, I shall look for his other works.
So what's in store for our hero, and his warband.

Brought a tear to my eye.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story, impressive, if a flawed hero, Great characters. Enjoyed the exploration of Saxon belief in their gods, emerging Christianity and the importance of oath taking threaded through the tale.

Great Second Instalment

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Longtime friends and followers of mine might know that I endorsed Harffy’s debut novel, The Serpent Sword. That was a self-published affair which garnered enough interest and sales that Matthew was taken on by a major publisher, Aria, and this is the resultant sequel.

The tale is quite straightforward with love, action and beautifully written prose aplenty and, combined with a really good narrator, makes for a great listen. It gets especially nasty (in a good way!) about two-thirds in and things really start to come together there.

I felt a little as if this was a bridge between the first book and the next, setting things up for what’s to come for the rest of the series. That’s no bad thing and there is enough to keep your interest up throughout although I did miss a bit of humour. The events are dark and gritty and the characters know it – but it would have been nice to have a bit of childish banter between the men just to lighten things. As it is, the word I kept thinking of as I listened was “earnest”. The dialogue is earnest, the characters are earnest and the prose is too. I was wishing someone would fart or stand in a dog turd but sadly there’s no slapstick silliness here!

This series has been compared to Bernard Cornwell’s Uhtred stories (by me, actually, in that previously-mentioned endorsement!) but, although settings and time period are similar, the writing is completely different in The Cross and the Curse. Fans of one author will enjoy the other I’m sure, as both are absolutely brilliant.

Steven A. McKay, author of the Forest Lord series

Great listen!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews