AN ANDOVER author has written a new book, taking a fictional perspective of the life of Saxon Queen Elfrida, who lived in Amesbury and Wherwell in the late 900s.

Rosemarie Martin has written ‘Finding Elfrida’ in honour of late wildlife photographer Ronald Eastman, for whom the author was working when she started reading more about the Queen.

She said her novel has true history, murder, betrayal, drama, romance, and even witches and vampires.

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“I am extremely excited about my new book,” Rosemarie said.

“The legend goes, in the year 963, King Edgar the peaceful did slay his best friend Earl Athelwold deep in the heart of Harewood Forest, all for the love of the lady Elfrida. The novel is based on this story.

“I didn’t want to finish writing the novel because I have done it in honour of Ronald Eastman. It has been on my mind since the 90s when I was doing a part-time typing job for him.

“He was doing a script on Queen Elfrida, but he died before he could finish it. To finally write this novel in his honour is amazing.”

Rosemarie said ‘Finding Elfrida’ is a fictional book with true history intertwined. It is set in Harewood Forest and Chilbolton.

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Last year, she published Ruby Red, a novel based on her experiences as a carer and those of others, to highlight the work of the care sector, especially following the pandemic.

“Since I wrote a book last year, I got more comfortable with writing for this one,” she said.

“It was great to finally sit down and write my own version of Queen Elfrida.”

Finding Elfrida is available from Etsy: https://newpages.etsy.com

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