Customer Reviews

Heartstone

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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.

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

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!

"Heartstone" is CJ Sansom's fifth novel in his "Matthew Shardlake" historical mystery series, set in Tudor England. And it's one of his best of the series.

Shardlake is a lawyer who practices in the Inns of Court. Basically a single practitioner, he takes cases at the behest of anyone who hires him to plead their case. In this book, he is hired by Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr, on behalf of one of her servants. Katherine, an interesting character in her own right, is trying to avoid Henry's late-life complications and hopes to outlive him. She has her court and he has his. Shardlake's case is to support a claim by the dead son of her servant that a former employee of his - he was a tutor - was cheating a ward the employer had adopted as an orphan, thereby taking over the young ward's land and property. If that last sentence seemed somewhat long and awkward, Sansom's book is long enough that he is able to explain it fully. Shardlake has another case - one that he's been involved with for a while - that of a woman who might (or might not) be wrongly imprisoned in London's Bedlam mental hospital.

Shardlake's involvement in the case of the ward and his inheritance takes him to visit the young man in the Surrey and Hampshire area south of London. Coincidentally, the woman in Bedlam is also from that area and Shardlake takes the opportunity to look into her family history. Also coincidentally, the area around Portsmouth is the projected landing site of the French fleet setting out from Normandy to attack Henry. Shardlake and his assistant Barack are setting forth on their journey - along with the opposing lawyer and his clerk - to this potentially battle area.

Shardlake is a hunchback who has always handled himself with his wit and intelligence rather than brute strength. He has managed to offend or antagonise many members of Henry's court, though he is a favorite in Katherine's. He has many enemies - including real-life Sir Richard Rich - and they seem to pop up with great regularity in Sansom's books. Matthew Shardlake does have a rather interesting life, which evolves further in each of Sansom's succeeding novels. In this book, the supporting characters are richly developed. Of course, few people are who they appear to be and back-stories abound. Sansom's a very good author and his large Matthew Shardlake novels are a real pleasure to read. He also has one stand-alone book, based in Spain during the 1930's.

We all know that history is a bit of fact mixed with wishful thinking,supposition,myth and skewed guesswork, and one must read it with a bit of skepticism. I never felt that way when reading this book. I felt I was actually there living the experience with Shardlake and seeing things at that period of time as if they were truly happening, and I was a privileged onlooker. I read this book at a fast gallop. and a week later read it again , something I have done with very few books. I, therefore heartily recommend this book to those who love history, mystery and a good read. H.G. Evans, B.C. Canada

Entertaining, hard to put down.
The best so far.
I am very much looking forward to the next one.