As Henry VIII lies on his deathbed, an incendiary manuscript threatens to tear his court apart. Summer, 1546. King Henry VIII is slowly, painfully dying. His Protestant and Catholic councilors are engaged in a final and decisive power struggle; whoever wins will control the government. As heretics are hunted across London, and radical Protestants are burned at the stake, the Catholic party … party focuses its attack on Henry’s sixth wife — and Matthew Shardlake’s old mentor — Queen Catherine Parr.
Shardlake, still haunted by his narrow escape from death the year before, steps into action when the beleaguered and desperate Queen summons him to Whitehall Palace to help her recover a dangerous manuscript. The Queen has authored 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. Although the secret book was kept hidden inside a locked chest in the Queen’s private chamber, it has inexplicably vanished. Only one page has been recovered — 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 his trusty assistant Jack Barak into the dark and labyrinthine world of court politics, a world Shardlake swore never to enter again. In this crucible of power and ambition, Protestant friends can be as dangerous as Catholic enemies, and those with shifting allegiances can be the most dangerous of all.
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I was reading a particular scene in REVELATION when I suddenly became aware that my heart was thumping and my shoulders were scrunched up and tense. And it was only a scene where a panel of men were sitting in a room! Such is Sansom’s ability to convey the fear and tension in the life and times of Matthew Shardlake. The sense of place of Tudor …
Another incredible storyline and more hardships for Shardlake. Allies become enemies, enemies become allies.
Shardlake just cannot catch a break!
5******
Superbly written
This book is one in a series written by CJ Sansom, that was recommended to me several years ago. I read the entire series and was very much satisfied with the author and the books. It was filled with drama, mystery, intrigue, murder, and infused with a bit of the Tudor period when Henry VIII was king. I love reading history about the Tudor period, …
If you interested in Henry VIII’s England, read this book.
I try to nurse and read a book at slowed pace, because it waits patiently for me to return to it, much like a beloved dog. I have become a huge supporter of Shardlake, Barak and Tamasin, Guy, and the Shardlake household; I think on them as friends. Insults about Master Shardlake’s form make me cringe. I cannot decide who is worse, Richard Rich …