Conn Iggulden: Wolf of the Plains
A Look at One of Britain's Most Popular Historical Novelists
With his series 'Emperor' completed, Conn Iggulden has now turned his creative attention to the great Mongol leader Genghis Khan.
If you've read Conn Iggulden's four volume Emperor series you will know that this young novelist is a master story-teller who can also write beautifully clear sentences that, in just a few words can take you back to the days of the Roman Empire, or in the case of his new series Conqueror, back to 12th and 13th century Mongolia, and the rise of Genghis Khan.
Conn Iggulden's Origins
Conn Iggulden is of Irish and Scottish descent ( his mother is Irish, and his great-grandfather was a Seannachie, a Scottish story-teller) and was born, as Conn puts it "...in the normal way", in London in 1971. His father was a bomber pilot during World War Two, who gave his son a love of poetry and adventure fiction, which meant he grew up with the works of C.S.Forrester, and later Wilbur Smith. He admits that one of his greatest influence is Patrick O'Brian.
Iggulden was educated at St Martin's School in Northwood, London; then at the Merchant Taylor's School, before studying English at the University of London. The result was he ended-up teaching English for seven years, becoming Head of the English Department at St Gregory's Roman Catholic School in London before turning his hand to writing.
His first novel, in the Emperor series, The Gates of Rome, was published in 2003.
The Dangerous Book for Boys
But it would be with his The Dangerous Book for Boys, co-written with his brother Hal, and published in 2006, that the name Conn Iggulden became better known.
The book, which is a take on those books of a similar title from the 1920s and 1930s, hit a nerve with young 'modern' dads who bought millions of copies for their sons, as did the mothers of those same 'modern' dads, creating, in just a few weeks, a number one 2006 Christmas best-seller. Conn and his brother followed it up this year with The Dangerous Book for Boys Yearbook, which has again become a best-seller.
What it also did was make Conn something of a household name, creating more and more interest in his historical fiction.
Wolf of the Plains - The Epic Story of the Great Conqueror
If you're a scholar of Genghis Khan, perhaps brought up on Harold Lamb's superb 1927 biography: The Emperor of all Men, you needn't worry that Iggulden has turned the great warrior leader into a 21st century man you wouldn't recognise. What Iggulden has done, in the way Lamb did, is create a three-dimensional, living, breathing man we can believe in, a boy called Temujin...
" ...abandoned with his siblings on the harsh Mongolian plains [who] had to struggle to avoid death. He survived both starvation and hostile attacks by learning remarkable leadership skills and gathering a group of outsiders like himself. Hunted and alone, he dreamed of uniting the tribes into one house, one nation. He became a great warrior. He would become the father to his people. He would be Genghis Khan."
And for once the blurb writers have got it right.
The Wolf of the Plains is a spell-binding read, with descriptive passages that are some of the best ever, as this extract reveals...
" The Tartars did not lack for courage. As their warning horns moaned across the plain, every warrior ran for his horse, mounting with shrill yells that carried to the ears of Temujin's warriors. His sixty rode together as they increased their pace to a gallop. His officers snarled orders at any man who proved too eager, watching Temujin himself as he drew his first arrow in perfect balance..."
As one reviewer has written:
" It felt like a block buster movie was unfolding before me. Read the book before Hollywood takes it over."
The second volume in the series, Lords of the Bow, is to be published in January 2008.
