Sovereign is the third outing for lawyer turned detective Matthew Shardlake.
The year is 1541 and the King’s Progress has reached York, a hostile city that
does not welcome the arrival of so many southerners. The king hopes his visit will
help quell resistance in the north but bad weather and an absent king of
Scotland delays the Progress and puts huge strain on a city that hasn’t
forgiven Henry for the split from Rome.
In his characteristic style Sansom does not sugarcoat life in the
Tudor period. He describes the rotting corpses hung over the gates to the city,
the hardships endured by the citizens and the uncertainty of the age. The story
revolves around those who believe the king is not the rightful heir to the
throne and Shardlake himself is in danger when it seems he’s seen incriminating
documents. The claustrophobic atmosphere of fear and suspicion is expertly
crafted.
Shardlake is under orders to ensure Broderick, a rebel prisoner, is
kept alive ready to be tortured in the Tower once returned to London. This
causes a conflict of morals for him, knowing the horrors of the torture
chamber. There are also hints that Shardlake could be swayed by the
conspirators’ point of view, though he has enough experience and diplomacy not
to allow himself to become incriminated.
He nonetheless finds himself in an increasingly difficult situation
as he discovers secrets of the Queen alongside his assistant Barak and love
interest Tamasin. This knowledge sees Shardlake interrogated under false
accusations and the sheer horror of torture is shown through the descent into
madness and suicide of a number of characters awaiting interrogation.
An atmospheric novel that balances a number of interlinked
mysteries, the climax of which is a real page turner. The sights, smells, and
struggles of life in the sixteenth century are realistically evoked and the
historic note at the end explains any variance from reality.
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