Sovereign: (3 The Shardlake series)

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. Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission for the Archbishop Cranmer - 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 but to the royal family itself. And when Shardlake stumbles upon secret papers which could threaten the Tudor throne, a chain of events unfolds that will lead to Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age...

About the Author :
C J Sansom was educated at Birmingham University, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. After practising as a solicitor, he became a full-time writer. His Shardlake series includes Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone and Lamentation. C.J. Sansom died in April 2024.

Review :
I have enjoyed C. J. Sansom's series of historical novels set in Tudor England progressively more and more. Sovereign, following Dissolution and Dark Fire, is the best so far . . . Sansom has the perfect mixture of novelistic passion and historical detail. Even if heart-pounding suspense and stomach-tightening tension were all Sansom’s writing brought to the table, few would feel short-changed. Added to these gifts is a superb approximation of the crucible of fear, treachery and mistrust that was Tudor England, and a memorably blood-swollen portrait of the ogreish Henry’s inhumane kingship. A parchment-turner, and a regal one at that. Not only a great detective novel but also a fabulous insight into the historical happenings of the Tudor period, this book is an absorbing read. A dazzling conspiracy theory novel of the Tudor age. Third volume of CJ Sansom’s deservedly popular Tudor detective series . . . Between them, Sansom and Starkey have the 16th century licked. A brilliant evocation of tyranny in Tudor England. A fine setting for crime fiction and CJ Sansom exploits it superbly . . . Never mind the crime: this is a terrific novel. I was enthralled by Sovereign by C. J. Sansom, a novel combining detection with a brilliant description of Henry VIII’s spectacular Progress to the North and its terrifying aftermath. A master class in suspense...an age of political and religious convulsion is conjured up with thrilling immediacy. Both marvellously exciting to read and a totally convincing evocation of England in the reign of Henry VIII. Sansom has a real knack for bringing the sights, sounds and smells of Tudor times to life and his evocation of a time when your fate could be decided on a whim and England was ruled by a bloated monster make you very glad indeed that, fascinating as it is, you'll never have to witness Shardlake's world first hand. Sansom brings the colours, sights and sounds of Tudor England brilliantly into the imagination in this gripping historical novel. The best detective story I’ve read since The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . . . [a] devilishly ingenious whodunit . . . Sansom’s description of the brutality of Tudor life is strong stuff, but he is a master storyteller. Sansom is excellent on contemporary horrors. This is no herbs-and-frocks version of Tudor England, but a remorseless portrait of a violent, partly lawless country . . . You can lose yourself in this world. Dissolution by C J Sansom was an impressive start to a historical fiction series featuring stubborn, admirable Tudor lawyer Matthew Shardlake. Sovereign is the third outing, and this series just gets better and better. Don’t open this book if you have anything urgent pending. Its grip is so compulsive that, until you reach its final page, you’ll have to be almost physically prised away from it. The latest in CJ Sansom’s increasingly thrilling series of 16th-century crime mysteries, it pulls you like its predecessors, into a tortuous world of Tudor terror. This is an atmospheric thriller where velvet and silk hide putrescence, and beyond the grandeur of a Court lies a world where people rot alive or choke in deep mud. Sansom does a nice line in irony and savage humour, as well as the simple affections which keep people going in nightmarish times. CJ Sansom’s new Matthew Shardlake adventure shows how far this series has developed since his first book. Sovereign is bigger in scope, more colourful, has a more complex plot and moves at a faster pace . . . This is a compelling read, vividly capturing the atmosphere of constant fear, as religious fervour and political ambition are expressed in cruelty and corruption. CJ Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going