Wigan crime author Paul Finch to make historical fiction debut in new three-book deal

The Standish author has signed a three-book deal with publishers Canelo, which will see him write medieval action-adventures, with romantic sub-plots and epic battle scenes.

The first book, entitled Wolfhead, is due out in April as a standalone novel. The next two will be a duology, to be released in 2024.

Paul, who usually writes fast-paced, fictional crime thrillers, wanted to try his hand at writing something new.

He said: “It’s a bit different for me, I normally write crime and thrillers, but I fancied a change, so during lockdown, I put 40,000 words down for a new historical adventure and then Canelo got back to me and commissioned three books.

"I’m still writing crime thrillers for Orion. I’m not giving up the crime writing, this is another strand on my bow.

"I read a lot of historical fiction and there’s a lot of big authors out there – my bookshelves are filled with their work – and I’ve always thought that at some point, I must have a go at doing this."

Writing the new books was not straight-forward, as Paul had to do lots of research into the period and the people.

He said: "The first one is called Wolfhead and is set during the Norman conquest of England.

"As it’s set around real events, even though I’m using fictional characters as well as real ones, you also have to get it as close to accuracy as you can.

"During the 11th Century, a time when not everything was written down, there are different accounts of different historical events and not all dates are certain. Not everyone is sure of who was at such-and-such a battle and a lot of history was word of mouth back then, there are lots of variations.

"There are gaps within a year where no-one really knows what was happening, so you can make that stuff up.

“It’s much easier these days because you can use the internet, whereas you used to have to go to a library to do your research. Now, there’s thousands of sources online that you can check.

“It’s escapism. It just seems so far from normal people’s lives.

"I think why authors pick these events is because it’s a simple age – kings were in charge, peasants did the work and in between, you had the fighting class, that’s basically it.”

Despite being different to his usual books, Paul hopes Wolfhead will prove to be a hit with his readers, both current fans and newcomers.

He said: “What you can expect is a lot of battles, because that was the time and there’s a lot of scrapping and a romantic sub-plot, but it’s a key one.

“Wolfhead is about a very young Saxon, a 17-year-old son of an earl who looses everything – his family, his home, his friends, his fiancee. They’re all killed during the course of the conquest and he’s made a prisoner.

"He faces a very bleak future and suffers appalling mistreatment, but very lucky to be a prisoner and kept alive.

"It’s really about his fight back from the absolute utter gutters of human experience. There’s also some very evil and despicable villains."