![]() ![]() A huge brick of a book, coming in at over 600 pages, and yet at no point does it flag. ![]() I have long held that Sansom is by far the best writer of historical fiction, certainly today, but perhaps ever and I’m delighted to say that this book is, in my opinion, his best to date. ![]() And when a torn page turns up in the dead hand of a murdered printer, it’s clear some people will stop at nothing to get hold of the book… So when the book is stolen, Catherine calls on the loyalty of her old acquaintance, Matthew Shardlake, to find it and save her from becoming another of Henry’s victims. Not quite heretical, but close enough to be used against her by the traditionalists. At this dangerous time, Henry’s last Queen, Catherine Parr, has written a book, Lamentations of a Sinner, describing her spiritual journey to believing that salvation can be found only through study of the Bible and the love of Christ, rather than through the traditional rites of the Church. And, as the story begins, Anne Askew and three other heretics are about to be burned at the stake for preaching radical Protestantism. The constant shifts in what is seen as acceptable doctrine have left many sects, once tolerated, now at risk of being accused of heresy. ![]() It is 1546, and an increasingly ailing Henry VIII has swung back to the traditionalist wing of the church – in fact, some fear he might be about to make amends with the Pope and take the country back to Catholicism. ![]()
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