Sovereign

by C. J. Sansom

Overview

Leto 1541 goda. Korol' Anglii Genrih VIII, obespokoennyj popytkoj myatezha, sobiraetsya posetit' Jork na severe korolevstva, chtoby predotvratit' vozmozhnoe povtorenie bunta. Met'yu SHardlejk, vklyuchennyj v korolevskuyu svitu, otpravlyaetsya v Jork zaranee s sekretnym zadaniem dostavit' v London organizatora neudavshegosya myatezha. So svoim pomoshchnikom SHardlejk selitsya v abbatstve Svyatoj Marii, kotoroe dolzhno stat' vremennoj rezidenciej korolya. Tut-to i nachinaetsya chereda tainstvennyh proisshestvij. Snachala pogibaet vitrazhnyh del master Oldrojd. Pri osmotre doma ubitogo obnaruzhen tajnik so shkatulkoj, soderzhashchej starinnye dokumenty. Sleduyushchej zhertvoj stanovitsya sam SHardlejk. Ot udara po golove on teryaet soznanie, i najdennye bumagi, sposobnye prolit' svet na istinnyh iniciatorov zagovora, ischezayut... V mire literaturnyh geroev i v soznanii segodnyashnego chitatelya obraz Met'yu SHardlejka zanimaet pochetnoe mesto v ryadu s takimi izvestnymi personazhami, kak SHerlok Holms, Erkyul' Puaro, Niro Vul'f i komissar Megre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9785389189485
Publisher:	Azbooka
Publication date:	12/23/2020
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	704
File size:	2 MB
Language:	Russian

About the Author

After a career as a lawyer, C. J. Sansom now writes full-time. He is the author of the Matthew Shardlake mystery series, which includes Dissolution, Dark Fire, and Sovereign.

Editorial Reviews

When historical fiction clicks, there's nothing more gripping . . . and C.J. Sansom's fantastic Sovereign left me positively baying for more. It's that good. . . . Rebellion, plots, torture, fanaticism, a murder mystery and a real historical scandal come alive in this deeply satisfying novel.
— USA Today

Deirdre Donahue

Authors of the caliber of P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Ian Rankin, and Minette Walters remain rare. C. J. Sansom's Sovereign . . . deserves as wide a readership as any of the above. . . . It's deeper, stronger, and subtler than most novels in the genre.

The Sunday Independent (London)

Sansom's engrossing third historical featuring Matthew Shardlake (after 2005's Dark Fire) finds the hunchbacked barrister at the vortex of strife-torn Tudor England in the rainy autumn of 1541. Northern Britain anxiously awaits the arrival of the Great Progress taking Henry VIII and an entourage of thousands toward York to quell a fresh rebellion. Recently appointed a legal counsel for the Progress, Shardlake has a secret mission from Archbishop Cranmer to guarantee the safe return to London of imprisoned conspirator Sir Edward Broderick. With his trusted assistant, Jack Barak, Shardlake also investigates the death of master glazier Peter Oldroyd, a suspected papist, who fell from his ladder and was impaled on glass shards. Their search of Oldroyd's house reveals intriguing documents that question the royal line of succession and even impugn Henry. Despite complex court politics and several attempts on his life, Shardlake stalwartly maintains his integrity while searching for truth amid the "vipers' nest" of Henry's court. (Apr.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Renaissance barrister Matthew Shardlake joins Henry VIII's mammoth progress to the rebellious North on a mission from the wily Cardinal Cranmer. In the rainy autumn of 1541, in the city of York, clever, upwardly mobile, hunchback lawyer Shardlake and his trusty Jewish clerk Jack Barak slog through trackless forests with orders to protect an imprisoned rebel from his sadistic jailer. Cardinal Cranmer wants the prisoner brought back alive to London where he can be properly tortured for information about a recent conspiracy to unseat the once-glorious monarch, now obese and limping and on his fifth wife. The gloomy city is seething with resentment as Henry's gigantic entourage approaches. Advance forces have taken over desecrated monasteries to house the thousands of soldiers, lawyers, courtiers, caterers and whores comprising the royal progress, and the Yorkers hate them all. Shardlake quickly stumbles onto the grisly murder of a glazier with ties to the rebellion and then himself becomes the victim of a string of attacks when he finds that the victim was guarding an old jewelry box containing documents that could blow the Tudor succession to bits. He's knocked unconscious before he can read the papers, which quickly vanish, but someone thinks he knows enough to make him a danger. Shardlake has to elude the murderers, avoid his arch-enemy Sir Richard Rich and stay out of the way of the grumpy monarch, whose frisky, much younger wife, Catherine Howard, may be involved in a fatal flirtation. While Jack dallies with a pretty servant from Queen Catherine's retinue, Shardlake gets assistance in his inquiries from a kindly old colleague who knows more about the conspiracy than he lets on. Asalways, former lawyer Sansom (Dark Fire, 2005, etc.) fleshes out the detection with rich historic details presented at a stately pace. Highly intelligent entertainment.

Kirkus Reviews