Sansom’s prose is as assured as ever, but his plotting doesn’t match that of his clever Elizabethan historicals (Dissolution, etc.). David Fitzgerald, a senior official in the Dominions Office, begins to rebel against his country’s leadership after the tragic accidental death of his almost-three-year-old son, and is tapped to aid the resistance in a plan to free a scientist who carries a potentially world-changing secret. While the country is not technically under Nazi occupation, its citizens live in fear of speaking their minds, and Churchill heads a shadowy resistance movement. Later that year, Britain makes peace with Germany. Follow Shardlake into the dark heart of Tudor England with the bestselling Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone, Lamentation and Tombland.In the intriguing prologue of Sansom’s solid what-if historical thriller, British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax succeeds Neville Chamberlain as prime minister on May 9, 1940, instead of Winston Churchill. Sansom creates both a stunning portrait of Tudor England, and an unforgettable character in Matthew Shardlake. ĭissolution is the first book in this bestselling phenomenon, where C. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the altar, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic.ĭr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved.īut on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. Sansom.Įngland, 1537: Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Like Hilary Mantel, he produces densely textured historical novels that absorb their readers in another time’ - Andrew Taylor, Spectatorĭissolution is the first in the phenomenal Shardlake series by bestselling author, C.

‘Sansom has the trick of writing an enthralling narrative. 'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' - Sunday Times

Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory. Tudor England is brought to vivid life in C.

Dominion cj sansom book review