Lamentation (The Shardlake series, 6) - Softcover

Sansom, C. J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330511041 ISBN 13: 9780330511049

Publisher: Pan, 2015

Synopsis

Matthew Shardlake is back in Lamentation, from the number one bestselling author C. J. Sansom.

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 sympathizers 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 printshops 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.

The previous books in the bestselling Shardlake series are Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation and Heartstone. Continue the gripping historical series with Tombland.

About this title

Review:

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 jubilation., Sunday Times

Shardlake's back and better than ever . . . The plot and pacing make this the best Shardlake yet . . . it is a vision of how individuals find the moral courage to fight injustice which links the Shardlake novels to Sansom's other fictions, Winter in Madrid and Dominion. 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 on Sunday

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 rendered., The 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 England., Observer

Sansom brilliantly conveys the uncertainty of the time when a frail young prince would ascend the throne with different factions fighting for regency . . . Sansom has the gift of plunging us into the different worlds of the period., Independent

So engrossing is the tale that I didn't pause long enough to take a note. Even when judged by the high standards of the earlier Shardlake novels, this one stands out - not least because it successfully maintains suspense for over 600 pages. With the Shardlake series, and with this volume in particular, Sansom has surely established himself as one of the best novelists around., Spectator

This is a terrific book . . . It is a convincing account of a cruel and fascinating period and a very exciting read., Literary Review

...the Tudor Holmes finds himself plunged into crisis at the English Court...Sansom
recreates a fascinating era as he carries the reader along with Shardlake on his diligent and
perilous quest, criss-crossing medieval London from the luxury of the royal palaces at
Whitehall to the filthy backstreets of the city.

, Daily Mail

...a dark and atmospheric story... Shardlake deserves his wide and rapturous readership. -- Antonia Senior, The Times

Sansom has an extraordinary gift for atmosphere: he immerses the reader in the sights, sounds, smells and dreadful paranoia of life in the last days of Henry VIII . . . Utterly gripping -- Marian Keyes, Irish Times, Books of the Year

Book Description:

The sixth historical mystery in the compelling Shardlake series.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0330511041
• ISBN 13: 9780330511049
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 768