I being a devotee of C.J. Sansom’s “Matthew Shardlake” historical thrillers (which have had the odd approving mention on TSD) – in the past couple of years, with no new one having appeared after the rapid-fire publication of the first five in the series – I’d been fearing that the author had given up on this theme, and would concentrate henceforth on other stuff. Happily, not so – no. 6, Lamentation, has been published in recent weeks – I bought it in hardback, and read it pretty well at one sitting.
I find these novels greatly fascinating and absorbing, and splendidly written. Set, so far, in England in the reign of Henry VIII (in the most recent, the old so-and-so at last dies). Matthew Shardlake, the hero and first-person narrator, is a London lawyer: a serious-minded and highly ethical guy, somewhat inhibited in his personal life by his having been born hunchbacked. He seems fated to get involved over and over, against his will, in frightening and potentially deadly, and often physically violent, affairs of the great personages in England at this very volatile time in the country’s history. IMO wonderful stuff, narrated with wry humour supposedly by Master Shardlake. His “sidekick” Jack, basically a good guy but something of a chip-on-shoulder-bearing roughneck with an extremely cynical view of the world, is good value too.
The picture received from the overall background of the Shardlake thrillers, is of a time of extreme religious / political turmoil, with the absolute monarch Henry seemingly liable to radically change his mind day by day on matters of religion, and on what the English populace should / should not adhere to on that scene – unless one took great care to keep track of what was happening there, and to follow the ever-changing “orthodox” line, it appears that it was rather easy to get burnt alive for heresy. After that, and what followed later in the sixteenth century – amazing that the English common folk kept any interest and faith whatever, in the Christian religion in its various forms.
Wiki mentions that Sansom has supposedly said that he plans to write further Shardlake novels, taking the lawyer into the reign of Elizabeth I. May that be so ! The hero’s experiences in the reign of Mary Tudor (1553 – 58) should be interesting: he being a one-time Protestant reformer, later persuaded towards agnosticism by his experiences of the religio-political scene in the mid-sixteenth century.
I picked up Sovereign at random on a vacation a few years ago and really enjoyed it even though it was in the middle of the series. I’ve meant to read more in the series but I haven’t got around to it yet. Maybe this news will inspire me to read more.
I kind of assumed that Samson slowed down because the Hillary Mantel books sucked all the air out of that era even though they are in different genres. (I also assumed C.J. was a woman; I though it was a rule for all two-initialed authors.)
I confess to not even having heard of Hilary Mantel, before your post. Having Googled her, I get the picture that she does all sorts of stuff, Henry VIII only a bit among many – maybe I got that wrong. Google also reassures me that Mr. Sansom is male, viz. Christopher John. Two-initialled authors – maybe an idea started by the creator of Harry Potter?? A.A. Milne, many decades ago, was male, and I don’t think anyone suggested that he was otherwise …
The Booker Prize is the most prestigious literary award in the UK. Mantel has won two of them for her two books about Thomas Cromwell, so they’re really a big deal, especially in Britain. And this all happened in the last couple years. Now, Samson is writing historical murder mysteries, not historical literary fiction, but still it must be really discouraging to have that happen to your era and cast of characters.
I always assumed the double initial thing was originally to hide the gender of genre and YA authors like P.D. James and J.K. Rowling.
I read Sansom’s *Dominion *(alt-history set in 50s Britain) and picked up the Shardlake series from there. I’ve only read Sovereign and Revelation so far, but enjoyed them both.
Hilary Mantel’s two Cromwell novels are amazing, and if the third is up to the standard she’s set with the first two she will have written one of the finest trilogies in any genre in my opinion. You should certainly read them as well.
Oh, dear – colour me clueless – as I am British ! Or maybe just lowbrow: I instinctively flinch from the Booker Prize scene, and pay it little attention; I expect the authors and their output to be generally describable as “highly up-themselves / ultra-self-conscious, pompous twaddle”, and not at all enjoyable by me.
I’d imagine there to be “space” and subject-matter enough for both Mantel and Sansom – from what you say, she concentrates on Thomas Cromwell, whereas Sansom’s six Shardlake books so far, have spanned the years from (I think) 1539, to 1546. The first couple involve Cromwell; then the books go on, after his fall, to have to do with other characters in high places.
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