

In my review of the previous Shardlake novel, Revelation, in these pages I described it as the best yet. The best novel in this richly entertaining series. Newcomers can discover why Sansom's Tudor mysteries exert such a pull. * Sunday Times Culture *įans will need no introduction to Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer embroiled in dark secrets during the reign of Henry VIII. Publisher: Pan Macmillan ISBN: 9781447285878 Number of pages: 768 Weight: 544 g Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 46 mm MEDIA REVIEWSĪ virtuoso twisting together of Tudor history and murder mystery that bristles with skulduggery, suspicious behaviour and sinister deaths. Continue the gripping historical series with Lamentation and Tombland. Ī bestselling phenomenon, the Shardlake series is perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light.

Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions both with an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettiplace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. Asked to investigate claims of "monstrous wrongs" committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen.


Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. Like Hilary Mantel, he produces densely textured historical novels that absorb their readers in another time' - Andrew Taylor, SpectatorĮngland, 1545: England is at war. 'Sansom has the trick of writing an enthralling narrative. 'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' - Sunday Times Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory. Sansom's fifth spellbinding mystery in C.
