Lamentation by C. J. Sansom
Dec. 27th, 2014 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Summer, 1546.
King Henry VIII is slowly, painfully dying. His Protestant and Catholic councillors are engaged in a final and decisive power struggle; whoever wins will control the government of Henry’s successor, eight-year-old Prince Edward. As heretics are hunted across London, and the radical Protestant Anne Askew is burned at the stake, the Catholic party focus their attack on Henry’s sixth wife, Matthew Shardlake’s old mentor, Queen Catherine Parr.
Shardlake, still haunted by events aboard the warship Mary Rose the year before, is working on the Cotterstoke Will case, a savage dispute between rival siblings. Then, unexpectedly, he is summoned to Whitehall Palace and asked for help by his old patron, the now beleaguered and desperate Queen.
For Catherine Parr has a secret. She has written a confessional book, Lamentation of a Sinner, so radically Protestant that if it came to the King’s attention it could bring both her and her sympathisers crashing down. But, although the book was kept secret and hidden inside a locked chest in the Queen’s private chamber, it has – inexplicably – vanished. Only one page has been found, clutched in the hand of a murdered London printer.
Shardlake’s investigations take him on a trail that begins among the backstreet print-shops of London but leads him and Jack Barak into the dark and labyrinthine world of the politics of the royal court; a world he had sworn never to enter again. Loyalty to the Queen will drive him into a swirl of intrigue inside Whitehall Palace, where Catholic enemies and Protestant friends can be equally dangerous, and the political opportunists, who will follow the wind wherever it blows, more dangerous than either.
The theft of Queen Catherine’s book proves to be connected to the terrible death of Anne Askew while his involvement with the Cotterstoke litigants threatens to bring Shardlake himself to the stake.
It’s over a year since HEARTSTONE. Matthew Shardlake has kept his word and stayed away from politics to focus on his legal practice. Under Barak’s management, business has been good and Shardlake has a new pupil – Nicholas Overton, a young man from landed wealth at odds with his family – who’s helping Shardlake in a difficult case involving a brother and sister who are fighting over a will bequest. But with London alive with talk that the King is near death and the Protestant and Catholic factions of the court competing to control the heir, Prince Edward, it’s impossible for Shardlake to stay out of politics for long.
When Queen Catherine Parr summons him to the palace it’s because she needs his help. She’s written a radical Protestant book – one that could bring Henry’s wrath upon her – and the only copy has been stolen from a trunk in her private chamber. Loyal to the Queen, Shardlake agrees to find it only to be plunged into a world of intrigue and danger involving pamphleteers, hidden factions and heretics that threaten to bring him to the stake …
The sixth in C J Sansom’s bestselling SHARDLAKE SERIES is an absorbing, twisting and intricate historical thriller that works as an ending to Shardlake’s adventures (should Sansom decide to leave it here) but also sets up a delicious potential seventh novel. As always, Sansom is a master of juggling his plotlines and I really admire the way he brings them together to keep the overall story moving. There’s a sense of Shardlake being more settled in his life and although I didn’t believe in his crush on Catherine Parr (and am irritated by his thing for unobtainable women) I did enjoy the rising tension between Shardlake and Guy and Shardlake and Tamasin as they point out how others suffer for Shardlake’s curiosity and duty. Nicholas is an interesting new addition and I liked the way he moves into the action role as Barak gets older. As always, the history feels authentic and Sansom is a master of using real historical people in credible ways – particularly the despicable Richard Rich and one of the early scenes, depicting the execution of Anne Askew is hideous in its brutality. There are a few sections that feel a little padded but I really didn’t mind because the overall read is such an engrossing joy that I thoroughly recommend.
The Verdict:
The sixth in C J Sansom’s bestselling SHARDLAKE SERIES is an absorbing, twisting and intricate historical thriller that works as an ending to Shardlake’s adventures (should Sansom decide to leave it here) but also sets up a delicious potential seventh novel. As always, Sansom is a master of juggling his plotlines and I really admire the way he brings them together to keep the overall story moving. There’s a sense of Shardlake being more settled in his life and although I didn’t believe in his crush on Catherine Parr (and am irritated by his thing for unobtainable women) I did enjoy the rising tension between Shardlake and Guy and Shardlake and Tamasin as they point out how others suffer for Shardlake’s curiosity and duty. Nicholas is an interesting new addition and I liked the way he moves into the action role as Barak gets older. As always, the history feels authentic and Sansom is a master of using real historical people in credible ways – particularly the despicable Richard Rich and one of the early scenes, depicting the execution of Anne Askew is hideous in its brutality. There are a few sections that feel a little padded but I really didn’t mind because the overall read is such an engrossing joy that I thoroughly recommend.
Summer, 1546.
King Henry VIII is slowly, painfully dying. His Protestant and Catholic councillors are engaged in a final and decisive power struggle; whoever wins will control the government of Henry’s successor, eight-year-old Prince Edward. As heretics are hunted across London, and the radical Protestant Anne Askew is burned at the stake, the Catholic party focus their attack on Henry’s sixth wife, Matthew Shardlake’s old mentor, Queen Catherine Parr.
Shardlake, still haunted by events aboard the warship Mary Rose the year before, is working on the Cotterstoke Will case, a savage dispute between rival siblings. Then, unexpectedly, he is summoned to Whitehall Palace and asked for help by his old patron, the now beleaguered and desperate Queen.
For Catherine Parr has a secret. She has written a confessional book, Lamentation of a Sinner, so radically Protestant that if it came to the King’s attention it could bring both her and her sympathisers crashing down. But, although the book was kept secret and hidden inside a locked chest in the Queen’s private chamber, it has – inexplicably – vanished. Only one page has been found, clutched in the hand of a murdered London printer.
Shardlake’s investigations take him on a trail that begins among the backstreet print-shops of London but leads him and Jack Barak into the dark and labyrinthine world of the politics of the royal court; a world he had sworn never to enter again. Loyalty to the Queen will drive him into a swirl of intrigue inside Whitehall Palace, where Catholic enemies and Protestant friends can be equally dangerous, and the political opportunists, who will follow the wind wherever it blows, more dangerous than either.
The theft of Queen Catherine’s book proves to be connected to the terrible death of Anne Askew while his involvement with the Cotterstoke litigants threatens to bring Shardlake himself to the stake.
It’s over a year since HEARTSTONE. Matthew Shardlake has kept his word and stayed away from politics to focus on his legal practice. Under Barak’s management, business has been good and Shardlake has a new pupil – Nicholas Overton, a young man from landed wealth at odds with his family – who’s helping Shardlake in a difficult case involving a brother and sister who are fighting over a will bequest. But with London alive with talk that the King is near death and the Protestant and Catholic factions of the court competing to control the heir, Prince Edward, it’s impossible for Shardlake to stay out of politics for long.
When Queen Catherine Parr summons him to the palace it’s because she needs his help. She’s written a radical Protestant book – one that could bring Henry’s wrath upon her – and the only copy has been stolen from a trunk in her private chamber. Loyal to the Queen, Shardlake agrees to find it only to be plunged into a world of intrigue and danger involving pamphleteers, hidden factions and heretics that threaten to bring him to the stake …
The sixth in C J Sansom’s bestselling SHARDLAKE SERIES is an absorbing, twisting and intricate historical thriller that works as an ending to Shardlake’s adventures (should Sansom decide to leave it here) but also sets up a delicious potential seventh novel. As always, Sansom is a master of juggling his plotlines and I really admire the way he brings them together to keep the overall story moving. There’s a sense of Shardlake being more settled in his life and although I didn’t believe in his crush on Catherine Parr (and am irritated by his thing for unobtainable women) I did enjoy the rising tension between Shardlake and Guy and Shardlake and Tamasin as they point out how others suffer for Shardlake’s curiosity and duty. Nicholas is an interesting new addition and I liked the way he moves into the action role as Barak gets older. As always, the history feels authentic and Sansom is a master of using real historical people in credible ways – particularly the despicable Richard Rich and one of the early scenes, depicting the execution of Anne Askew is hideous in its brutality. There are a few sections that feel a little padded but I really didn’t mind because the overall read is such an engrossing joy that I thoroughly recommend.
The Verdict:
The sixth in C J Sansom’s bestselling SHARDLAKE SERIES is an absorbing, twisting and intricate historical thriller that works as an ending to Shardlake’s adventures (should Sansom decide to leave it here) but also sets up a delicious potential seventh novel. As always, Sansom is a master of juggling his plotlines and I really admire the way he brings them together to keep the overall story moving. There’s a sense of Shardlake being more settled in his life and although I didn’t believe in his crush on Catherine Parr (and am irritated by his thing for unobtainable women) I did enjoy the rising tension between Shardlake and Guy and Shardlake and Tamasin as they point out how others suffer for Shardlake’s curiosity and duty. Nicholas is an interesting new addition and I liked the way he moves into the action role as Barak gets older. As always, the history feels authentic and Sansom is a master of using real historical people in credible ways – particularly the despicable Richard Rich and one of the early scenes, depicting the execution of Anne Askew is hideous in its brutality. There are a few sections that feel a little padded but I really didn’t mind because the overall read is such an engrossing joy that I thoroughly recommend.
