Silly Questions About the Borders #1
Part of the “Silly Questions About the Borders” series — light-footed answers to the daft things we’ve all wondered but never asked.
Everything You Wanted to Ask About the Borders (But Thought Was Daft)
A curious new series of blogs exploring the daft, the curious, and the quietly brilliant questions of the Anglo-Scottish Borders.
Why Don’t We All Speak French?
Every so often someone asks — usually half-jokingly, half-apologetically — why we in the Borders don’t speak French.
How a Throwaway Line Became Aurelius
How a Throwaway Line Became Aurelius The unexpected birth of the Arbor Vitae Chronicles By Fenwick McKie Most people assume that big characters arrive fully formed — a brooding monk, a reluctant healer, a man carrying a forbidden Greek medical parchment through the burning streets of 10th-century Italy. If only it were that tidy. Aurelius […]
To catch a King
A historical novel of ambition, loyalty, and rebellion in the borderlands of 14th-century Britain
In a fractured realm where banners change faster than the seasons, three young lives are pulled into the bloody tide of war and power.
John of Upsettlington, illegitimate son of a flamboyant Neville lord known as the Peacock of the North, seeks more than a name—he seeks destiny. Robert Moffatt, son of a disgraced knight, yearns to restore his family’s honour by proving himself on the battlefield. His sister, Eleanor, is a healer—wise beyond her years, feared by some, whispered about by others. Witch. Heretic. Saint.
As the walls of Berwick crumble under siege and the crowns of Scotland and England shift from weak hands to ambitious heirs, the trio are drawn into a web of shifting loyalties, dangerous secrets, and unforgiving choices. Watched by the calculating Constable of Norham Castle, Sir Thomas Gray, and caught between two rising monarchs—David of Scotland and Edward III of England—their paths converge at the breaking point of a kingdom.
2 Catch a King is a gritty and character-driven historical drama exploring what it means to stand for something when the ground beneath you is always shifting.
To Free a King
The war is not over — not while a king is still in chains.
King David of Scotland sits imprisoned in the Tower of London, a pawn in England’s grip. The Borders bleed uncertainty once more. Sir Thomas Gray, once the iron wall of Norham Castle, is dying. his death will leave a power vacuum — and a question: who will defend the North?
John of Upsettlington and Robert Moffatt, battle-forged and risen from the fringes of nobility, must decide whether to serve the realm… or shape a new one. Gray’s son, untested and unsure, may yet find his strength — but not without allies.
And Eleanor Moffatt, healer and heretic in equal measure, dares to dream of unity. If she can persuade the captive King David — not as an enemy, but as a man — could there be another path? A future where Scotland and England do not clash, but join?
To Free a King is a story of legacy, sacrifice, and the flicker of hope in an age of steel and suspicion — where the future of two kingdoms may rest in the hands of those who once had no power at all.
To Deceive a King
The story behind the scars of a hardened borderland knight.
Sir Thomas Gray never sought glory — only to survive the shifting tides of a brutal war. As a young man, he witnesses the Scottish War of Independence unfold with treachery on all sides. Rising through the ranks, he earns the favour of Edward I, only to face suspicion under the capricious rule of Edward II. By the time Edward III ascends the throne, Thomas is a trusted confidant — and the weary Constable of Norham Castle, guardian of England’s northern gate.
But loyalty is a fragile thing on the Anglo-Scottish border. Betrayal cuts deep — and not only from enemies. With threats brewing in both courts and in his own household, Sir Thomas must navigate a world where kings lie, friends turn, and one wrong move may doom everything he has built.
De Materia Medica
Pedanius Dioscorides was no saint, but he was a scholar and a progressive thinker. Born 40 years after the death of Christ, he did not believe in miracles. In fact, Christianity in his lifetime was but a small, but growing sect, and he had probably not even heard of it.
Born in Cilicia, which is now in Turkey, then part of the Roman Empire, he served as a physician in the Roman army; he was fluent in several languages, including Greek, his native tongue. Travelling widely with the army, he was first a physician, second a botanist, and most importantly, an artist and meticulous writer of his findings.