Theodore Brun seemed to have everything. A high level, high earning job as a Paris based lawyer, a group of interesting friends and activities, a French fiancé, and yet he knew he wasn't really happy. Something was missing. It took him several job changes and a long-distance cycle ride across Europe before he discovered his calling.

And a decade of hard work later, he's published a four-book series of Dark Age historicals, The Wanderer Chronicles, and he's found where he belongs.

Hi there, I'm your host Jenny Wheeler, and on Binge Reading Today, Theodore talks about the books that critics describe as “thrilling, epic adventure at its very best” and about finding his place as an author in that remarkable ride that opened up his life to new energy and joy.

Fantastic Fiction Giveaway

For our Giveaway this week, I've teamed up with 50 other fantastic authors to give away a huge collection of Women's Fiction and Book Club books in a BookSweeps Lucky Draw. There's two prize winners, but the Grand Prize winner gets a brand new E reader as well as a library of new books.

You can win my book Sadie's Vow, #1 in the Home At Last series, plus books from authors like Stephanie Dray, Madeline Martin, and Michelle Cox, all of whom have been on Binge Reading in the past.

And remember, if you enjoyed the show, leave us a review so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they will love to read.

Details of things mentioned in this episode:

The Second Siege of Constantinople: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/11635/umayyad-siege-of-constantinople-717-ce/

The Anglo Saxon poem The Wanderer:

https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Wanderer.php

Wynfrid of Nursling also known as St Boniface: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Boniface

German god Thor:  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thor-Germanic-deity

Joe Abercrombie: https://joeabercrombie.com/

Hungry Ghosts: Kevin Jared Hosein, https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Ghosts-Kevin-Jared-Hosein-ebook/dp/B0B31N67Z7/

River Spirit: Leila Aboulela, https://leila-aboulela.com/books/river-spirit/

The Great Reclamation: Rachel Heng, https://www.rachelhengqp.com/

Where to find Theodore Brun online

Website: www.theodorebrun.com

Instagram: @Theobrun

Twitter, @Theodore Brun

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theodorebrunauthor/

Introducing author Theodore Brun

Historical adventure author Theodore Brun

But now here's Theodore. Hello, Theodore, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Theodore Brun: Hello, Jenny. It's lovely to be here, from the other side of the world, literally. And the other side of the clock. You're 12 hours ahead. Let's get into it.

Jenny Wheeler: Yes. Thank you so much. Now we're going to be talking about the four-book series of The Wanderer Chronicles, set in the dark ages of Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries, and I know that these sorts of sagas often have quite a strong element of archetypal fantasy in them as well.

So I'm wondering. There's an obvious character in the book who identifies as a wanderer, but there's probably a more overarching archetype as well at play here. Talk to us a bit about how the Wanderer works in these kinds of Viking sagas.

Theodore Brun: The Wanderer, it's interesting the name, the Wanderer, for a start, because I came up with that when I was about halfway through drafting the first book. and in searching around to see whether anything else had been made under that name, I discovered that there is actually a very old Anglo Saxon poem called The Wanderer.

And as I read this thing, it was the first time I'd read it, I was astonished because it was very similar in terms of archetype to my own protagonist. And it's really about a man, a warrior in this warrior culture, who is forced into exile because his lord and his comrades are all wiped out in a battle.

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