Author:C J Sansom
The sixth novel in the Matthew Shardlake series, set in Tudor England.
The lawyer/sleuth has to recover a controversial confessional book written by Catherine Parr, stolen from a seemingly locked cabinet – only one page has been found, clutched in the hand of a murdered printer.
Sansom brilliantly recreates the London of 1546, from the lavish gilded palaces to the poverty of the ramshackle huts around St Paul’s to the dungeons of the Tower.
Length of Read:Long
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Fans of meticulously researched historical fiction, who love to immerse themselves in a long complex story – if you liked the preceding tales in this series you’ll certainly enjoy this.
One thing you’ve learned
Hilary Mantel doesn’t have a monopoly on fiction based on the Tudor era.
This is the latest in the excellent Shardlake series. These stories just keep getting better and better (and I like the way our hero doesn’t always get his way).
Agree. I’ve read all of them, and they keep getting better. What comes across so strongly in this one is that by the end of Henry VIII’s reign England was a 16th century version of Stalinist Russia. And I’ll stick my neck out and say that Sansom conveys the effect of all this on the people more effectively than Hilary Mantel. Hopefully he can sustain the series right through the reigns of Edward VI and Queen Mary; should think there’s the meat from some great stories there.
by the way, this is a snip on kindle at the monent, just £1.99