Historical fiction is always a balancing act. I begin with what we can know: the chronicles, the genealogies, the scraps of record that survived. Then I look for what history rarely preserves: the private moments, the tensions in a household, the choices made behind closed doors, and the emotional cost of living inside power. That is where Kinstrife was born.

If you’ve ever visited a Welsh castle and felt two stories tugging at you at once—“this is foreign conquest” and “this is now part of Wales”—you’ve stepped right into the historian’s dilemma.

Arianwen Nunn’s The Welsh Warrior series is just that: a sweeping, dramatic, richly imagined saga centred on 11th- and 12th-century Wales, that manages to combine guts, heart, politics, and the little human moments that make history feel alive. Here are some reasons why readers believe this series stands out.

In the Middle Ages, the border between England and Wales wasn’t marked by firm lines or stone walls but was a fluid space where people, cultures, and allegiances shifted constantly. Far from being isolated, these borderlands were vibrant regions shaped by both Welsh traditions and the influence of English political power.

If you’ve ever been swept up in the world of historical fiction where kings rule with iron wills, castles dot the landscape, and kingdoms rise and fall, you might imagine early medieval Wales as a land carved into neat territories, ruled from mighty strongholds. The truth, as history often reveals, is far more complex but just as fascinating.