The Clerkenwell Tales - Hardcover

Ackroyd, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385511213 ISBN 13: 9780385511216

Publisher: Doubleday, 2004

Synopsis

In 1399 London, with Richard II on the throne of England, Sister Clarice, a member of the convent at Clerkenwell, experiences a series of visions about a dark and dangerous future that reveal a secret plot to overthrown the Church, dethrone Richard, and ignite deadly violence in five different parts of London. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Peter Ackroyd opts for full immersion in The Clerkenwell Tales after dipping a toe, or ten, in the Middle Ages with Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination. The Clerkenwell Tales is a gripping novel about murder and religious and political intrigue in 14th century London. As hinted at in the title, a cap is generously doffed to The Canterbury Tales; several characters and chapter headings mimic Chaucer and, at least superficially, it takes the form of a series of interconnected tales.

Although this is a work of fiction, it is nonetheless as rich in historical material as, say, his evocative London: A Biography. Set in 1399, it's heavily underwired by events surrounding Henry Bolingbroke's usurpation of Richard II. On the whole an appendix, dubbed "The Author's Tale", keeps the Ye Olde London factoids from intruding on the yarn but there are moments, especially when he touches on Medieval customs and eating habits, where the research bubbles to the surface. However, like Hawksmoor and The House of John Dee, it's Ackroyd's judicious use of the more esoteric shards of the capital's past that really fuels the drama. This is, after all, Clerkenwell in the era of the mystery plays; a district inhabited by quack physicians, dung rakers, heretical sects and murderous clerics. (Think Umberto Eco in EC1.)

Clarice, the novel's demonic central force, is a sister of the House of St Mary beset by visions. "Some called her the mad nun ... others revered her as the Blessed Maid of Clerkenwell" but in this "turbulent time of a weak and wretched king" Clarice's prophecies of impending doom strike an ominous chord. Elsewhere in the City, a shadowy group of pre-eminent Londoners, known as Dominus, have long been plotting to dethrone Richard and install Henry. William Exmewe, an Austin Friar and Dominus member, has slowly nurtured a gang of lowly religious dissenters--the foreknown, or predestined ones--to, unknowingly, aid their cause. Believing themselves, as Christ's true followers, to be absolved from all sin, William has persuaded them to wage, essentially, a terrorist campaign to bring on God's day of judgement. The predestined ones will fire five churches, making five wounds upon London, mirroring the five wounds of Christ and the five circles of an ancient Christian symbol. (A mystical five-pointed pentagram was something of a motif in Hawksmoor.) Quite how these schemes (and counter schemes) pan out is best left unspoiled. Ackroyd fans and anyone who savours cunning, intellectually exhilarating mystery tales will not be disappointed. --Travis Elborough

Review:

"Brilliant. . . . Ackroyd has borrowed from one classic and produced another."-Time Out New York

"Theological and political issues come bracingly alive as the plot turns and twists through a murky world of betrayal and fanaticism. In the words of 'The Monk's Tale' 'To Thee this storie I recomende.'" --The Christian Science Monitor

"The Clerkenwell Tales is the latest example of [Ackroyd's] virtuoso mastery of his subject matter."-The Seattle Times

"A gripping thriller which also happens to be wonderfully full of engaging historical detail and conversation-enhancing worlds like 'hopharlot." --Literary Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0385511213
• ISBN 13: 9780385511216
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 213