Launching one of our favourite historical fiction series, the peerless Dissolution introduces Tudor lawyer Matthew Shardlake as he roots out murder in the marshes.
Dissolution is the first in the phenomenal Shardlake series by bestselling author, C. J. Sansom, followed by Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone and Lamentation.
It is 1537, a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066. Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved.
But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body.
His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the altar, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic.
Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes . . .
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781447285830
Number of pages: 480
Weight: 342 g
Dimensions: 197 x 131 x 30 mm
When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival - Sunday Times
Matthew Shardlake combines engrossing historical detail with a first-rate murder mystery. A really satisfying page-turner. - Independent on Sunday
Sansom has a greater talent for animating period details than most of his contemporaries, his rendering of the Tudor winter in the first of the Shardlake series makes you reach for thick fleece blankets. - Guardian
Remarkable . . . The sights, the voices, the very smell of this turbulent age seem to rise from the page. - P.D. James, author of the Adam Dagliesh series
Extraordinarily impressive. The best crime novel I have read this year. - Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series
Terrific . . . a remarkable, imaginative feat. It is a first-rate murder mystery and one of the most atmospheric historical novels I’ve read in years. - Mail on Sunday
Terrific. Historical fiction at its finest. - Peter Robinson, author of the Roy Grace series
Dissolution is not just a fascinating detective story, but a convincing portrait of a turbulent period. - Sunday Telegraph
I don’t read historical novels any more — it’s a busman’s holiday — but I make an exception for C. J. Sansom’s Shardlake books, which are set amid the uncertainties of the 16th-century Henrician Reformation. - Bernard Cornwell, author of the Sharpe series, The Times ‘The 25 books you must read’
Such a richly woven tale of murder and mystery set in the unlikely setting of a Tudor monastery. I was hooked from page one and literally couldn't have guessed 'whodunit'! Filled with great plot twists... More
This is Tudor whodunit, set in the reign of Henry VIII. Shardlake is a commissionaire for Lord Cromwell and is asked to go to a monastery to investigate the murder of the last commissionaire who was there. He arrives... More
This book had me gripped from the first page. I couldn't put it down. You just don't want it to end. Grab a glass of wine, light the candles and go back to the darker side of Tudor England. Brilliant!
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