Short description
The third novel in the compelling Shardlake series
Long description
Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to attend an extravagant submission of his rebellious subjects in York. Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. As well as assisting with legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator being returned to London for interrogation. But the murder of a local glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself. And when Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret papers which could threaten the Tudor throne, a chain of events unfolds that will lead Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age ...'Sansom is a master storyteller' Guardian 'So compulsive that, until you reach its final page, you'll have to be almost physically prised away from it' Sunday Times 'Deeper, stronger and subtler than The Name of the Rose' Independent on Sunday
Review
aWhen historical fiction clicks, thereas nothing more gripping . . . and C.J. Sansomas fantastic Sovereign left me positively baying for more. Itas that good. . . . Rebellion, plots, torture, fanaticism, a murder mystery and a real historical scandal come alive in this deeply satisfying novel.a
aDeirdre Donahue, USA Today
aAuthors of the caliber of P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Ian Rankin, and Minette Walters remain rare. C. J. Sansomas Sovereign . . . deserves as wide a readership as any of the above. . . . Itas deeper, stronger, and subtler than most novels in the genre.a
a The Sunday Independent (London)