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Tudor Tale Is Fascinating

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By LARRY GANDLE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2009

"Revelation," by C.J. Sansom (Viking, $26)

Matthew Shardlake is a hunchback lawyer living in London during the reign of Henry VIII. The year is 1543, and the king wants to marry Catherine Parr.

Shardlake has several issues to deal with. First, he defends a teenage boy who has become a religious fanatic, constantly begging the Lord for forgiveness. The teen is in danger of being burned as a heretic. Second, Shardlake doesn't trust his apprentice, who he thinks is up to no good. The third and most significant problem is that there is a serial killer on the loose, and one of Shardlake's old friends is killed, which causes Shardlake to get involved in the investigation and placed directly in the killer's sights.

This is the fourth Shardlake mystery. Each book deals with a specific topic of the turbulent time period of Tudor England.

The first, "Dissolution," dealt with the dissolution of the Catholic monasteries. Another dealt with the king traveling through England and what it entailed to be part of the entourage.

These books are filled with copious descriptions of life in London. It seems that whole chapters were written just to explain another aspect of life in this era. Naturally, this leads to a long and slow-paced novel.

This is an enormous book but, as with all of C.J. Sansom's novels, it is a fully absorbing and fascinating read. This represents historical fiction writing at its best.

Larry Gandle of Tampa is a freelance writer.

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