The Wake is a 2014 debut novel by British author Paul Kingsnorth.

[1] Written in an imaginary language, a hybrid of Old English and Modern English,[2][3] it tells of Buccmaster of Holland,[3] an Anglo-Saxon freeman forced to come to terms with the effects of the Norman Invasion of 1066, during which his wife and sons were killed.

[4] He begins a guerrilla war against the Norman invaders in the Lincolnshire Fens.

After not receiving support through a mainstream publisher, he did not initially expect a large response to his work.

[8] The film rights were acquired by the actor and director Mark Rylance,[6][9] who also read a section of the book in 2014 at the Hay Festival.