Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake 5)

Product Information

Elle Katharine White infuses elements of Austen’s beloved novel with her own brand of magic, crafting a modern epic fantasy that conjures a familiar yet wondrously unique new world. 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.

Matthew Shardlake watches and wonders what is to come for his country, when he is not spending time at the mental institution visiting a new friend, Ellen Fettiplace. Why are readers so seemingly enthralled by such repetitive dialogue, minimal action, little plotting, non-existent suspense and none of the atmosphere that gripped me in Dissolution.This will lead him and his man, Jack Barak, into some dangerous waters whilst uncovering secrets that involve and affect many.

Sansom is both a qualified lawyer and a PhD in English History, so he is able to insert credible elements from both aspects of his professional life into the narratives.The BBC have commissioned an adaptation of Dissolution with the actor Kenneth Branagh set to star as Shardlake. Certainly the boxed set includes "the four books of the Shardlake series" and the focus of this latest addition to the Shardlake stories has a focus which although steeped in the political intrigues and court goings-on of the time is also far more illustrative of everyday life for the majority of the underprivileged population of the British Isles at the time.

But what the novel provides in terms of reach and achievement is streets ahead of most of his contemporaries. I do not normally read murder mystery novels, but since it was based in the Tudor dynasty, I decided to give it a shot and I wholeheartedly loved it. Henry VIII’s invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. Much of the action takes place outside London in Hampshire, Sussex and in Portsmouth and its surrounds, including the Solent. Henry VIII is aging and becoming more irrational regarding his escapades against the French that achieve nothing other than reducing the population of young men on both sides.

Black hardback(brown lettering to the spine, small nick on the edges of the cover) with Dj(small tear on the edges of the front Dj cover,two small nicks and crease on the edges of the Dj cover), both in near fine condition. Set during the reign of Henry VIII, the novels focus on various crimes, which the intrepid Shardlake investigates while dealing with the prevailing situation of London and England under Henry's increasingly erratic reign.

This time, the backdrop is Portsmouth and surrounding countryside as the French prepare to attack during the summer of 1545. He is the wise old man that heals everyone’s wounds and is a comforting counsel when someone needs his help. The servant’s late son, Hugh’s former tutor, was convinced that something was terribly wrong in the Hobbey household, and it is up to Shardlake to find out if the tutor was right — and if Hugh’s situation had anything to do with the tutor’s death. In the beginning, I loved that he was never more than a man of his time, that he was a bit naive and got so caught up in Cromwell's reforms that he was blind to it's effects. The Tekari—sworn enemies of humans—are openly roaming the kingdom and are headed towards the capital, Edonarle.

Throughout, Heartstone is a rousing tour de force of period re-creation, testifying to Samson's fascination with history. Elizabeth Tudor, the intellectual daughter of the king who has a similar temper to that of her father, but has a longing to help the Boleyn family in honor of her mother. England, reeling under the debasing of its currency to pay for the war, is suffering crippling inflation and economic meltdown.