- Hardcover: 640 pages
- Publisher: Random House Canada (Sep 28 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307356183
- ISBN-13: 978-0307356185
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 626 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #80,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
A New York Times Notable Crime Book of 2011
“Engrossing.”
— The Spectator (UK)
“Atmospheric and erudite . . . . Not since Umberto Eco penned The Name of the Rose has a historical crime novelist captured so perfectly a people and their place, and harnessed them with such intelligence and credibility to shadowy tales of politics, misdeeds, murder and mystery.”
— Lancashire Evening Post
“An enthralling historical crime novel packed with details of life in Tudor England. Highly recommended.”
— Irish Independent
“Compulsively readable and highly satisfying. . . . An entirely engrossing novel with an intriguing twist.”
— Daily Express
“This wonderful Tudor-era series is must reading for any devotee of historical mysteries.”
— Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
“Another fascinating story from a gifted author.”
— London Free Press
“A rousing tour de force of period re-creation, testifying to Sansom’s fascination with history. . . . Like all the Shardlake books, Heartstone winningly shows Sansom’s crafty flair for hoodwinking even the most hawk-eyed reader. . . . What there is no doubt about . . . is the breadth of Sansom’s achievement in this novel that twists together murder mystery and turbulent history.”
— Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times
“Engrossing.”
— The Spectator (UK)
“Atmospheric and erudite . . . . Not since Umberto Eco penned The Name of the Rose has a historical crime novelist captured so perfectly a people and their place, and harnessed them with such intelligence and credibility to shadowy tales of politics, misdeeds, murder and mystery.”
— Lancashire Evening Post
“An enthralling historical crime novel packed with details of life in Tudor England. Highly recommended.”
— Irish Independent
“Compulsively readable and highly satisfying. . . . An entirely engrossing novel with an intriguing twist.”
— Daily Express
“This wonderful Tudor-era series is must reading for any devotee of historical mysteries.”
— Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
“Another fascinating story from a gifted author.”
— London Free Press
“A rousing tour de force of period re-creation, testifying to Sansom’s fascination with history. . . . Like all the Shardlake books, Heartstone winningly shows Sansom’s crafty flair for hoodwinking even the most hawk-eyed reader. . . . What there is no doubt about . . . is the breadth of Sansom’s achievement in this novel that twists together murder mystery and turbulent history.”
— Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times
Book Description
Shardlake goes to war...
Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of "monstrous wrongs" committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant, Barak, journey to Portsmouth.
Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions with both an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour...
Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of "monstrous wrongs" committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant, Barak, journey to Portsmouth.
Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions with both an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour...
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
heartbreak,
By
This review is from: Heartstone (Hardcover)
Matthew Shardlake is one of my favourite literary characters. As someone who works in the fields of disability, diversity and difference, a character with a physical difference in a time where disability was equated with sinfulness, where societal attitudes made life more difficult than any physical barrier, is a (word chosen carefully) Godsend. Matthew's disability is never the focus of these books, nor should it be, but (as in life) its never far from the surface in his interactions with others. It makes an easy target for those who hate him for his investigations. Matthew Shardlake is different from other sleuths for another reason. He doesn't have brilliant, almost supernatural, insight. He has sheer dogged determination. He refuses to give up. He never takes the easy route. While its not said, ever, it seems as if his life's journey was not easy and he is used to working a little harder, proving himself to himself over and over again. In Heartstone, the mystery is slowly developed (even though the pace of the book is never slow) and we get to guess along with him as to what will happen next. Again a terrific read from a character that its impossible not to admire. I eager await each new book in the series, all stand alone as remarkable acheivements and all hang together as a series written with integrity and genius.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good but a bit more history than mystery,
By
This review is from: Heartstone Heart Stone (Hardcover)
First Sentence: The churchyard was peaceful in the summer afternoon.Lawyer Matthew Shardlake has been summoned to Queen Catherine Parr, last wife on Henry VIII. A former servant of hers has asked for help investigating claims by her son that his former student, Hugh Curtey, has been mistreated by Hugh's guardian, Sir Nicholas Hobbey. Traveling to Portsmouth with his assistant, Barak, allows Matthew to also investigate the past of Ellen Fettiplace, a young woman committed to Bedlam, but by whom? Sansome has gifted his readers with yet another wonderful book filled with historical details. The themes of politics, greed, poverty, conscription, injustice to the less powerful and the cost of war caused by those in power on those who have no choice but must live with the consequences have been repeated through time but here are set in the middle 1500s. One of my pleasures in reading historical mysteries is to learn. The Council of Wards was something with which I was not familiar. Most particularly, however, was learning that, but for the stubborn conviction of one woman, England might never have split from Rome. I also wish to applaud the UK publisher, Mantle, for a physically beautiful book, from the dust cover and embossed Tudor rose on the hard cover, to the inclusion of color maps, a sewn-in bookmark and, as always, the author notes at the end. In this day of ebooks, such details are greatly appreciated. I very much enjoy Sansom's, and thus his character's, voice. It has a very conversational tone which immediately drew me into the story, along with the lack of prologue. His characters are somewhat atypical in that Matthew is by no means heroic. He is an interesting, appealing character who can be stubborn, intrusive and somewhat naïve in his trust of others. Yet he is also caring and determined in his pursuit of justice. In other words, he is human and fallible. As balance, you have his assistant, Barak, how married and about to be a father. It is nice to see how both characters, individually and in relationship to one another, have grown and developed through the series. The plot is interesting and well done, but does get bogged down at times. There is so much history; the story itself becomes a bit lost, although certainly never to a point where I was tempted to stop reading. I was torn between feeling it would have been a much tighter, more compelling story had it been trimmed down, yet knowing I'd have learned and understood much less about the world in which the characters lived. Sansom has taken several story lines and woven them together into a fascinating, very good whole. As ever, I am eagerly looking forward to his next book. HEARTSTONE (Hist Mys-Matthew Shardlake-England-1545) ' VG Sansom, C.J. ' 5th in series Mantle, ©2010, UK Hardcover ' ISBN: 9781405092739
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pity the book had to end eventually - absolute brilliant,
This review is from: Heartstone (Hardcover)
This is a great read. It has many very well developed characters, which are very entertaining and very lively. Sansom has an easy style of writing and manages to hold the attention of the reader through the whole book, which is, with 640 pages, a long one. I read quite a lot and have encountered many different plots, but I did not see this one coming (no spoilers here!).Matthew Shardlake and his sidekick Jack Barak are fascinating characters with distinctive qualities that makes this series so charming and exciting. Although it will not be a problem to read this fifth book in the series as a stand-alone, I recommend reading the other ones first. There are some protagonists, which show up on the sidelines trough the whole series and to know them will make the reading experience even more enjoyable. I truly hope we will be seeing a lot more of Matthew Shardlake and Jack Barak!
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