Down With the Dirty Danes

by Gillian Cross

An hilarious story, told in letter form, about King Alfred – he who burnt the cakes, and his battles with the Vikings. Berwin, son of Egfrith, writes to Wulfric, son of Elred using his miraculous new talent of reading and writing. Berry’s spellings leave a lot to be desired and in his hilarious letters he tells a tale of mixups and mayhem when King Alfred hides in his family’s cottage but is mistaken for a Dirty Dane – their word for the Vikings. A completely new perspective on why and how those cakes got burned! Fast and very, very funny from the prize-winning author of The Demon Headmaster and other books.

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Gillian Cross was born Gillian Arnold in 1945. She was educated at North London Collegiate School, Somerville College, Oxford and the University of Sussex. Although now a full-time writer who often travels and gives talks in connection with her work, she has had a number of informal jobs including being an assistant to a Member of Parliament. For eight years she also sat on the committee which advises ministers about public libraries.

She is married to Martin Cross and they have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.