Stories drawn from a documented genealogical line stretching from Anglo-Saxon Mercia through the founding of early America to the present day. The record did not keep their names. The novels do.
Five novels. One thousand years. The women the record chose to forget. The same coin. The same document. The same chain of custody — passed from hand to hand through women whose names were not in the records they kept.
Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great. She built England. The network of fortified burhs that became England's cities. She governed Mercia alone from 911 to 918 AD. The record wrote around her name. This novel inhabits the silence.
In Submission to UK Literary AgentsÆlfwynn — Æthelflæd's daughter, confirmed Lady of the Mercians and erased from the record within months — is the subject of Book Two of The Saxon Chronicles. Her story is the reason the series exists.
Ælfwynn, Lady of the Mercians. Confirmed by the Witan. Removed within months. The record does not say where she went.
ForthcomingThe king Æthelflæd built. The unification of England. 924–954 AD. England named at last.
ForthcomingAlfred in the marsh. The decision that made everything after possible. Told in two movements — father and daughter.
ForthcomingJoan Parke at Henry VIII's court. 1526–1533 AD. A document moving through dangerous hands. An argument six hundred years in the making. The same coin. The chain does not break.
Complete — Forthcoming"England, as it exists today, rests on what Æthelflæd built.
Her name is not on it. It never was."
"A brilliant, original premise linking modern financial crime to an 1,100-year-old political document. A strong, driven protagonist whose personal stakes deepen the tension. Fast, propulsive pacing — a standout start to the Margin of Death Series."
READ FULL REVIEW →"A brilliant, original premise linking modern financial crime to an 1,100-year-old political document. A standout start to the Margin of Death Series."
READ FULL REVIEW →"A gripping, intricately layered conspiracy thriller that blends financial crime, ancient history, and institutional corruption into a high-stakes, time-spanning mystery. Perfect for fans of Daniel Silva, Steve Berry, and Kate Mosse."
"The kind of thriller that starts with a sharp inhale and never quite lets you exhale properly again. It lingers long after the final page, like a whisper from the ledger itself."
Two interconnected trilogies united by a single artifact — a document created in 918 AD that is still worth killing for in 2026. Each trilogy stands alone. Together they form something larger.
What Æthelflæd wrote in 918 AD — a philosophy of what governance owes its people — is as dangerous in 2026 as it was when she wrote it. The families who have protected it across eleven centuries are still protecting it. Sarah Reeves is about to find out why.
Each trilogy stands independently. For readers who want both: start with either trilogy and the other will deepen everything you have already read.
G.W. Parke is a pen name drawn from verified genealogical research connecting a documented family line from Anglo-Saxon Mercia through the founding families of early America to the present day. The Parkes family line connects through documented ancestry to Æthelflæd of Mercia, Alfred the Great, Robert the Bruce, Anne Boleyn, and Diana Frances Spencer, among others. The connection to Alfred runs through two independent verified lines. All primary connections are documented through FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. The pen name is the thesis of the series on every cover.
By profession, an educator — fourteen years teaching at community college level, currently teaching Career and Technical Education at high school level. An active trader with extensive experience in options, swing trading, and The Wheel strategy, whose non-fiction work on trading appears under the name Jeff Qualls.
Writing fiction is what happens when the research accumulates past the point where non-fiction can hold it. The novels are the attempt to inhabit the lives of the people the official record chose not to preserve.
For reader enquiries, media, or literary correspondence.
gwparke@gwparke.comgwparke.com