Lamentation
23 October 2014Synopsis
'C. J. Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going' – The Sunday Times
Lamentation is the sixth breathtaking historical novel in C. J. Sansom’s number one bestselling Shardlake series, perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.
England, 1546. King Henry VIII is dying. Meanwhile, his Protestant and Catholic councillors are engaged in a final and decisive power struggle to control the government of Henry’s successor, eight–year–old Prince Edward. As heretics are hunted across London, the Catholic party focus their attack on Henry’s sixth wife, Matthew Shardlake’s old mentor, Queen Catherine Parr, and Shardlake is unexpectedly summoned to Whitehall Palace.
For the Queen 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 sympathizers crashing down.
When the book inexplicably vanishes, and a single page is found clutched in the hand of a murdered printer, Shardlake must help the desperate Queen. His loyalty will drive him into a swirl of intrigue inside the 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 . . .
Lamentation is the sixth novel in C. J. Sansom's gripping historical series. Continue the series with book seven, Tombland.
Details
23 October 2014
9780230761292Reviews
This gripping new novel by the inventive C. J. Sansom shows that, when it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival . . . Lamentation is sure to give Sansom’s many fans further cause for jubilationSunday Times
Shardlake’s back and better than ever . . . Lamentation, like its predecessors, is a triumph both as detective fiction and as a novel . . . Sansom’s deep feeling for the psychology of religious faith and for the defenceless makes him, in my view, superior to Hilary Mantel.Independent
Sansom is highly skilled at weaving together the threads of his plot with the real and riveting history . . . Lamentation is a wonderful, engaging read. The atmosphere of fear and suspicion is brilliantly renderedThe Times
As always, Sansom conjures the atmosphere, costumes and smells of Tudor London with vigour, from the gilded halls of Whitehall Palace to the dungeons of the Tower . . . once Shardlake finds himself in real jeopardy [the novel] quickly picks up pace, all the way to a shocking climax that promises to mark a new chapter for Shardlake, and for EnglandObserver
