Daughter of Mercia
(Dr Anna Petersen Mysteries #1)
By Julia Ibbotson
A brand-new Anglo-Saxon time-slip full of mystery and romance.
Echoes of the past resonate across the centuries as Dr Anna Petersen, a medievalist and runologist, is struggling with past trauma and allowing herself to trust again. When archaeologist (and Anna's old adversary) Professor Matt Beacham unearths a 6th century seax with a mysterious runic inscription, and reluctantly approaches Anna for help, a chain of events brings the past firmly back into her present. And why does the burial site also contain two sets of bones, one 6th century and the other modern?
As the past and present intermingle alarmingly, Anna and Matt need to work together to solve the mystery of the seax runes and the seemingly impossible burial, and to discover the truth about the past. Tensions rise and sparks fly between Anna and Matt. But how is 6th century Lady Mildryth of Mercia connected to Anna? Can they both be the Daughter of Mercia?
For fans of Barbara Erskine, Elena Collins, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley and Christina Courtenay.
Publication Date: June 6th, 2025
Series: Dr Anna Petersen Mysteries
Publisher: Archbury Books
Pages: 301 ebook / 392 pb
Genre: Medieval Dual-Timeline Mystery Romance
Praise for Daughter of Mercia:
“Ibbotson’s prose immerses you in the vivid world of the Anglo-Saxon era, richly layered with sensory detail that brings both the past and present timelines to life. I could feel the atmosphere—the cold stone and the wind on the hills. Her writing weaves the two eras seamlessly, connecting people across time and creating a mysterious, slow-building tension that keeps you turning the pages.”
~ Alis Page, Reviewer, 5*
~ Alis Page, Reviewer, 5*
An interview with Julia Ibbotson
What inspired you to start writing?
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t write! Poems, short stories, and even a novel when I was about 10 years old, all about horses (my passion at the time!), dogs, and a mystery at a farm. But sadly, nothing actually published. I wouldn’t have known how to go about publishing, and anyway I just wrote for the love of it. I guess at heart my inspiration came from being an avid reader. But the first book I had published was The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen, which was inspired by the old rectory my husband and I had just bought and were renovating. Since then, my inspiration has come from my love of the early medieval world, its history, language and literature. I studied Anglo Saxon at university, and my professor was certainly inspiring! We learned to speak Old English (Anglo Saxon) - quite unusual and weird I suppose!
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
Daughter of Mercia is a haunting Anglo Saxon timeslip/time travel/dual time mystery with a touch of romance. It revolves around the archaeology of a burial site and it involves a complex slip in time. The hardest part about writing the book was trying to coordinate the events and make the timeslip and characters (and their issues) both work in that context and be believable. And, of course, trying to grasp the scientific theories that underpin the story, theories of quantum mechanics (which sounds a bit like something from Dr Who), the Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory, and worm-holes, basically scientific ideas about space-time portals through which you could slip from one layer of the universe into another, or from one historic period into another. Eek!
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
I really feel for the main protagonist, Dr Anna Petersen, who has some very difficult crises in her life to overcome. They have made her ‘close up’ and stop her trusting people, until she meets her old adversary, Professor Matt Beacham, and as they commit to working together on the mysterious burial, find a resolution.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
I always imagined someone like a younger Rachel Weisz (or maybe Emma Stone) as Anna, James Norton as Matt, Millie Brady as Lady Mildryth and Johnny Flynn as Theowulf. Strangely I had some of those actors in mind when I wrote A Shape on the Air, the first of my Dr DuLac series, as well! I’m nothing if not consistent! Maybe it depends on which films/dramas you’ve seen them in!
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I hope that readers find my book intriguing, well written and researched, and a great read! More specifically, in terms of engagement, firstly, I hope it inspires a curiosity about how time works, that maybe there are different layers and that it’s not as set fast chronologically as we might expect. Many of us have experienced that strange phenomenon of ‘déjà vu’ when we really feel that we’ve been there, done that, met that person, before, yet we know we haven’t. I wonder whether there is such a thing as experiences of the past somehow still imprinted on the present, maybe on the fabric of a building or on our subconscious minds. And that there are patterns through time, perhaps through our ancestors, our family connections. Secondly, that there is always a solution, or resolution: that people are not always what we initially thought about them, that they can surprise us for good and for bad, and that there can be ‘karma’, where wrong-doing is punished and the wronged are vindicated. I guess the book reflects the age-old (and medieval) battle between good and evil, and the victory of Good in the end. That all sounds a bit heavy, but I hope it’s a great uplifting and easy read and that the book leaves the reader with a sense of rightness and optimism!
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Julia Ibbotson
Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip / dual-time mysteries.
Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language / literature / history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s.
She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her latest novel is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon dual-time mysteries, Daughter of Mercia, where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries.
Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.
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