The Sixth Lamentation - Father Anselm Novels

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'Worthy of le Carre at his best' Allan Massie, Scotsman 'Wonderful - the engrossing essence of this novel is the morality of the individual' Gitta Sereny, Times 'Such a combination of narrative mastery, psychological insight and moral vision suggests a John le Carre in the making' Francis King, Telegraph "It is a wonderful book, it has a timeless quality and really should go on to become a classic. It reminds me of the early works of John le Carre, but captures much more accurately the internal workings of ordinary people, and shows how, just by bumping into each other, they can be utterly transformed, and go on to extraordinarily brave and cowardly acts. It pointed out so well how the threads of those small day by day choices made by us, or for us, become intertwined and grow so quickly into the great net that, with hindsight, we call history...one of the most interesting writers I have come across in a long time" - Paul Britton, author of The Jigsaw Man "The Sixth Lamentation is a meticulously-plotted, cat's cradle of a mystery with the interwoven stories pulled as taut as a piano-wire. The setting of Paris during the war is invoked to chilling effect. William Brodrick has written the first of what I hope will be a series of especially literate thrillers" - Martha Grimes "It's indeed rare to find such a masterful blending of sharp suspense and literary resonance as we see in The Sixth Lamentation. Brodrick has produced a truly compelling novel" - Jeffery Deaver, author of The Vanished Man and The Stone Monkey 'Absorbing and unusually accomplished...The plot has a complexity worthy of le Carre at his best, ingeniously worked out, and surprising... It has the merits of a work of art, whatever its provenance: a remarkable first novel' - Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'The characters are multi-layered and compelling, the storyline is gripping, the facts have a ring of truth to them, and more importantly, the book will remain with you after the reading is completed' -Historical Novels Review

UK Kirkus review

This intelligent debut from William Brodrick is inspired by his own experience first as a monk and then a barrister, and also from his mother's journals, wartime experiences and illness. The plot line is not easily distilled. In essence, this is the story of a war criminal being brought to retribution, and a group he hunted down and tried to destroy - a ring smuggling Jewish children out of wartime Paris - discovering the truth about him, themselves and each other. However a summary cannot do justice to the intricacies of this novel: an incredible number of twists take the reader to unexpected conclusions. An interesting cast of characters is woven together in a tale that ranges from wartime Paris to modern-day London and Rome, from the peace of a Suffolk priory to the high politics of the Vatican, from the Resistance to the law courts. The characters are finely drawn: particularly those of the heroine Agnes and Father Anselm, which are doubtless the most autobiographical. Epic might be too grand a word to describe this hefty volume, but big and powerful it certainly is. Though it deals with big issues and the horror of Auschwitz, it avoids being depressing or weighed down. With four parts and four prologues, at least eight major characters, two time frames and some hundred pages of scene setting alone, it does requires some investment by the reader. What we think is the denouement simply leads to more denouements, and if a criticism were to be levelled it would be that this unravelling of threads is too long. This is not a light beach read. But the effort is worthwhile. It's a thriller with intellect, a sensitive treatment of war crimes trials, and something of a love story to boot. (Kirkus UK)

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