Hello there! I’m Holly, and I’m currently studying for a PhD in Archaeology at Oxford, researching the role of women in the social and political developments of 6th- and 7th-century England and France. With a worldwide readership of over 5,600 PLUS featuring regularly in Substack’s top 100 fastest-growing history publications, I help curious minds go from “I’ve heard of the Saxons” to “Now I get how it all fits together”, one relatable, richly-narrated story at a time.
Unveiling Our Next Medieval Book Club Read
‘Lost Realms: Histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings’ by Thomas Williams
We’re kicking off 2026 with a deep-dive into early medieval kingship: what was it, how did it function, and how on earth did ‘England’ emerge from the tapestry of tiny kingdoms that proliferated in the fifth and sixth centuries?
Lost Realms: Histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings by Thomas Williams is one of the most accessible histories of the period that I’ve come across, written in an engaging style that tackles key debates without an overwhelming amount of academic detail (though check out this reading list here if that’s your thing). Avoiding the well-known tales of Mercia, Wessex, and Northumbria, Lost Realms focuses on the smaller kingdoms that would become swallowed by by neighbouring expansionist rulers: Elmet, Lindsey, Rheged, and so on. Only surviving now as place-name elements or long-lost legends, these were once proud people groups in their own right, and it’s about time their stories were told.
‘Thomas Williams is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Viking Britain (2017) and Viking London (2019). He is a former British Museum curator and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and has taught at the University of Cambridge.’1
‘An exceptionally vivid and exciting writer … Meticulous, honest and fair-minded … His consideration of the losers of Anglo-Saxon state-building provides a genuinely original and illuminating perspective on how England came to be.’ (Ronald Hutton)
Here’s what the blurb of the book has to say:
‘As Tolkein knew, Britain in the ‘Dark Ages’ was a mosaic of little kingdoms. Many of them fell by the wayside. Some vanished without a trace. Others have stories that can be told.
‘ELMET. HWICCE. LINDSEY. DUMNONIA. ESSEX. RHEGED. POWYS. SUSSEX. FORTRIU.
‘In Lost Realms, Thomas Williams, bestselling author of Viking Britain, uncovers the forgotten origins and untimely demise of nine kingdoms that hover in the twilight between history and fable, whose stories hum with saints and gods and miracles, with giants and battles and the ruin of cities. Why did some realms - like Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and Gwynedd - proposer while these nine fell?
‘From the Scottish Highlands to the Cornish coastline, from the Welsh borders to the Thames Estuary, Williams brings together new archaeological revelations with the few surviving written sources to rebuild a lost world; a world where the halls of farmer-lords linger as ghostmarks in the soil, where the vestiges of hill-forts cling to rocky outcrops and grave-fields and barrow-mounds shelter the bodies of the ancient dead. This was the age of Arthur and Urien, Bede and Taliesin; of the Picts and Britons and Saxon migration; of magic and war, myth and miracle.
‘In riveting detail, Williams uses Britain’s ancient landscape to resurrect a lost past where lives were lived with as much vigour and joy as in any other age, where people fought and loved and toiled and suffered grief and disappointment just as cutting as our own. In restoring some of these voices, he raises questions matching many we face today: how do nations form and why do some fail? How do communities adapt to catastrophe, and how do people insulate themselves from change? How do we construct the past, and why do we - like the people of early medieval Britain - revere it, often finding in the tales of those long gone a curious sense of belonging?’
‘Williams has blended a potent brew of mythic and material fragments to raise forgotten kings and queens (and their stories) from the grave. An historian not afraid of the dark and with eyes adapted to it - what he sees is assessed sagely and described beautifully.’ (Christopher Hadley)
How will the book club work?
We will read Lost Realms on a schedule across the months of January to March 2026, shared at the end of this post, though do feel free to read on if you find yourself captivated. Each month, readers will receive a post devoted to Lost Realms, which will contain: a video synopsis of the chapters read that month; a themed essay; discussion questions; a reader response section for you to share your thoughts. They will also receive weekly discussion prompts sent through the subscriber chat.
Ready to join us?
Behind the paywall (as the Book Club is a paid subscriber exclusive), I’ll be sharing the reading schedule so that those who want to join us can get started on sourcing a copy and reading, ahead of the first post on Saturday 3rd January.
