CONWY resident and author Charles Cordell will be talking about his new book, The Keys of Hell and Death, at Waterstones Llandudno on June 14 and 15.

This second novel in his Divided Kingdom series recount the battles in the West of England in 1643, during the English Civil War, and will be released on June 4.

The Divided Kingdom series tells the epic and bloody saga of Britain’s civil strife in the 17th century, which did so much to shape the UK as we now know it.

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The first novel in the series, God’s Vindictive Wrath, achieved strong sales, appealing to readers of such as Bernard Cornwell, Ben Kane, Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden, as well as receiving glowing reviews.

Much of Charles’ writing derives from his own experiences as a professional soldier –  he said: “These stories are not based on a single hero. They do not take sides.

“Their voices – ordinary men and women – face each other in the chaos of Britain in civil war, a war fought in our towns, villages and fields.

“They are both relatable and sharply relevant today.”

God’s Vindictive Wrath dealt with the opening set-piece battle of Edgehill and the ensuing race to capture London.

In The Keys of Hell and Death the action shifts westward, in 1643.

It opens at the brutal Battle of Lansdown Hill, outside Bath. It includes scenes set in the city as well as at the Siege of Devizes and the Battle of Roundway Down.

The action comes to a climax as the King’s Cornish and Oxford armies hurl themselves into the Storming of Bristol.

Again, the story is centred on the vicious enmity of the two Reeve brothers, but there are new characters, too.

These include Kendall Tremain, Cornish fisherman and tinner; Moussa Dansocko, a slave from Songhai in West Africa; and Abel Cowans, a disabled seaman forced to work as a Bristol docker.

Charles will be joined by British Civil War re-enactors on June 15 at Waterstones Llandudno.