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Cover art for Maria Waddelove's children's book 'Young Aelfred'Austin Macauley Publishers/Screenshot

(LifeSiteNews) — When was the last time we heard any good news about anything – especially about a book for children?

For all the right reasons, LifeSite can bring you such news today. A faithful Catholic mother and grandmother from England has written an account of the boyhood of the great and pious King Alfred, which will serve as a memorable formation in the mind of any young Catholic who will read it – for generations to come.

Young Aelfred, which preserves the Old English spelling, is an absorbing account of the boyhood of Alfred the Great, whose Catholic majesty preserved England from heathen domination and whose actions resulted in the unification of the Kingdom of England itself.

It is a tale of intrigue, of capture, tragedy, and adventure through the eyes of a boy whose life is shaped by his Catholic faith. It is a life which shaped the land he ruled.

Maria Waddelove took 17 years to write this book, whose literary and moral merits are exceptional. She describes in an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews how she managed the home schooling of her five children with a mission to bring the message of Christ through a book she was inspired to write to preserve and transmit the Catholic heritage of England to its future generations.

Few moral tales are moral at all these days, and sermons – though improving – may be difficult to endure for young minds. Though the book details precisely how a young boy can resolve his struggle towards manhood through a determined Catholic faith, it is no mere textbook of doctrine. Waddelove’s portrayal of the mind of Aelfred and how he deals with the thousand natural shocks to which flesh is heir is a joy to read. In an age typified by liberal chauvinism towards our heritage both historical and religious, Waddelove brings us a song of the ages whose message lives today.

This outstanding novelization of the youth of one of the greatest monarchs of Christendom is an inspiration to us all. My only fear in reading its captivating account of the journey, through faith to kingship of Young Aelfred, was that I would finish the book and there would be no more of its like to enjoy.

Happily, and despite the determined effort over a decade and a half which produced it, Waddelove says she is busily at work on a second account of an even earlier English King.

Let us hope it does not take another seventeen years before we are blessed with a treasure comparable to the remarkable achievement that is Young Aelfred. A certain hit with Catholic children of all ages, it is an adventure of the heart and mind of one of history’s outstanding Catholic heroes. With this effort, I think Maria Waddelove deserves more than a little of that glory, as her book does much to redeem the appalling reputation of contemporary literature.

Young Aelfred by Maria Waddelove was published by Austin Macauley on June 21, 2024.

If you would like to delight your children or grandchildren with the adventures of the young king Aelfred, you can find Young Aelfred here on Amazon.

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