Interview - Rus Madon on his new book 'Thunderstruck'
- Imagining History
- 20 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Learning about history doesn't have to be boring. And it certainly doesn't have to involve reading a very big - and very dusty - book with teeny tiny writing. In fact, there are loads of great - and, incredibly fun ways - to learn about history. First off, you can find an awesome history blog online and read all their posts - cough - you could play a historically themed video game set in ancient mythology, listen to a history podcast on the Vikings, watch a telly show all about the Romans, or read an absolutely thrilling and totally action-packed historical fiction book.
And, as luck would have it, we have the ideal totally action-packed historical fiction book for you, Thunderstruck. In reading this book you'll learn about Viking Mythology, the Saxons, and the Norman Conquest too! We were so impressed by Thunderstruck that we know we had to interview it's author, Rus Madon. So, that's what we did!
Without further ado, let's chat to Rus about the Viking gods, William the Conqueror, and using eels to buy stuff.
Imagining History - Hi Rus, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! First off, could you tell us a bit about your thrilling new YA novel, Thunderstruck?
Rus Madon - Yes indeed, and thank you for the opportunity for this interview. Thunderstruck is a novel about Freya, a girl from Ely, a city in the Cambridgeshire fens. She is dealing with the death of her mother, which happened four years before the story starts, under somewhat mysterious circumstances. But Freya is no ordinary girl. Unknown to her, she is the descendant of an ancient witch from Asgard. When Freya discovers an artefact containing the power of Thor, she inadvertently sets off a chain of events that disrupts time and space. She is pulled back in time to Saxon Ely during the chaos of the Norman Conquest.
She finds her ancestor the witch, who is trapped in the eleventh century, threatening to unleash the power of Ragnarok, the Norse prophecy that foretells the end of the world. Freya embarks on a perilous quest to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. But you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens next!
I have written the book as a time-slip dual narrative; we follow Freya as she travels through time to Ely during the Norman invasion, and also Hitesh, her friend (who is secretly in love with her!), who is left alone in modern Ely and tries to find a way to bring her back home.
What is it about the Viking Myths that inspired you to tell this story?
How long have you got! I have always loved the Norse myths and their pantheon of Gods. The characters are clearly larger than life, but they are also very human. They live life to the full, and the stories are often about things relatable to mortal life; they fight, they argue, they love, they embark on epic quests… What fascinated me was that whilst they are gods, they can also die, and that made them uniquely immortal and vulnerable at the same time. When I was growing up I read a lot of Marvel comics about Thor and his hammer Mjollnir, and this was probably the seed that eventually inspired Thunderstruck.
A little segue here to ask, who is your favourite Viking mythological character, and why?
My go to characters are usually Thor and Odin, but if I think I little more about the question, I would probably settle on Loki. Loki was traditionally seen as Thor’s half-brother, and like many siblings, they were always fighting and falling out. Whereas Thor resolved disputes with muscle and hitting things with his hammer, Loki used guile, deception and the ability to shape-shift to get his way. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for a shape-shifter! He could change into a salmon, a horse, and even a fly! Who wouldn’t want to do that!
Your story takes place in Ely, could you tell us, what is Ely?
Ely is a city a few miles north of Cambridge. It has an amazing cathedral with a rich history going back to Saxon times. Back then it was an Abbey, dedicated to St Etheldreda. The whole area used to be fens and marshes until the Dutch helped drain them in the 17th century to create the farmland we see today. However, what is fascinating is that before the fens were drained, and indeed in Saxon Ely during the Norman Conquest, there was a land mass about 6 miles long by 4 miles wide, which was only a few metres above the water table. This was called the Isle of Ely, and the name referred to the abundance of eels which thrived in the waterways around the island. The nature of the fens and marshes made it very difficult to reach Ely Abbey, but it also meant that it was an excellent place to defend against the Normans!
Who was Hereward The Wake? He is instrumental to the backdrop of your tale but, to our great shame, we’ve never heard of him! Please rid us of our shame by giving us the low down on Hereward!
Hereward the Wake was a fascinating character, and whilst he is not widely known, he had a significant role to play in the local history of the area. There are conflicting stories about who his parents were, and whether or not he was a Saxon noble. Some reports suggest he was the son of an Earl and Lady Godiva of Coventry fame! An interpretation of the historical records have him exiled by Edward the Confessor, upon which Hereward embarked on a series of adventures in Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, and the continent, before returning to the fens just after the Norman invasion.
To me, he is similar to the later Saxon character of Robin Hood; there are many stories about both men, some probably more myth than reality, but there is no doubt that, like Robin Hood, Hereward existed and played a pivotal role in leading a Saxon rebellion against the Norman invasion.
There is also confusion in the history books as to Hereward’s whereabouts immediately following the Siege of Ely. No spoilers, but I offer a somewhat novel interpretation of what happened to him in Thunderstruck!
The Norman Conquest is one of the most dramatic and important events in British history, how did you approach retelling this epic period in Thunderstuck?
William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and famously defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. We are often told that this one battle ended the war, and that the Saxon way of life changed forever at that moment. However, William and his Normans had a tenuous grip on England. There were Saxon revolts and rebellions for many years following the Battle of Hastings. For example, Exeter in 1068 and Northumbria in 1069–1070. During this time there was one place which managed to successfully hold out against the Normans, Ely under the leadership of Hereward the Wake. It was this last stand by the Saxons against the Normans in 1071, which became known as the Siege of Ely. It is the last few days of this siege which serves as the historical backdrop to Thunderstruck.
Whilst the story focusses on Freya and her dealings with witches and the power of the Norse Gods, it was also important to ensure that the background to the book was rooted in historical reality.
Researching your book must have been an intimidating undertaking, how do you go about it?
Research is never intimidating for me, it is a joy. The challenge is knowing when to stop researching, and when to start writing! I need to point out that I am not a historian, but that I adore history. I made sure that I read extensively around the time period, specifically 1071, when the time-slip part of the story takes place. There are some wonderful books written on the subject of the Norman invasion, and also about Hereward the Wake and the Siege of Ely which I gobbled up voraciously! I also made an extensive study of the landscape of the time, spending many hours in the British Library poring over old maps and reading accounts of the fens written by the monks of the time. I accessed academic texts, such as the Liber Eliensis (The Book of Ely), the Gesta Herewardi (The Deeds of Hereward), The Domesday Book, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to name a few. I love reading history books because they give me seeds of ideas that can sometimes be developed into major plot lines.
It is also important to research a time period carefully so that you do not include any anachronisms (things out of place for that time). For example, it would be wrong after a hard day’s work to have a Saxon enjoying a meal of chips, as potatoes were not introduced into England for another 500 years!
As an aside, I used genuine historical maps, geographical information and old manuscripts to recreate a map of what the area would have looked like in 1071, and this is the map you will find at the beginning of Thunderstruck.
We have lots of young people and their responsible grown-ups reading this Blog, do you have any fascinating facts about the Saxons, Normans, Vikings or anything else that you uncovered during your research that you could share?
That’s a great question! Where to begin!
We all know about the power of the Norman archers and how they would fire volleys of arrows into the Saxons (and one arrow maybe even hitting King Harold in the eye!). Well the Saxons had a few archers, but didn’t really bother with having ranks of them, as they thought bows and arrows were better for hunting rather than fighting! Doh!
I came across one fascinating throw-away comment in a dusty book written by a monk from a fenland abbey. He writes that in Saxon times high tides on the coast would mean the fens would regularly flood and be deluged. Once there was a report of a pod of whales being carried inland, and when the water retreated the whales were left stranded in the fen. I loved this fact so much that I wrote it into my story and it becomes a significant meeting place for my characters.
Finally, eels were so abundant in the fens that at one point that they became an unofficial currency! Quick! Fish for some eels, the landlord is coming and we need to pay the rent!
Time travel is a big part of your book, as a final question, if you could time travel to any period of history (other than the one featured in Thunderstruck) which would get your pick and why?
I’m spoilt for choice with this question, and it is one I have thought about over the years. Would I see the pyramids of Egypt in their prime, finished in white marble and topped with gold? Or how about travelling to China to see first time ever that someone set off a firework (imagine!).
But no, I think I would trade everything to see Hadrian’s Wall when it had just been finished (around 122 AD). It must have been glorious to see all 73 miles of it, and the forts filled with Roman soldiers. If we believe the accounts, the wall was more of a trading and customs barrier, rather than a specific defensive structure. As such, I would love to put my rucksack on and walk its length, to see the might of Rome rubbing shoulders with the British tribes; people milling around, passing through, buying and selling things, entertaining the troops. Hmm. Now maybe that would be a good idea for my next book….
Thanks Rus for taking the time to answer our questions!
