Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake 5)

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but I will wait, because I just don't know what I will do when I have no more Matthew Shardlake stories to read. Shardlake and Barak embark on their road journey south and experience all sorts of indignities and challenges along the way.

As with the prior novels, there are a multitude of moments when I felt my heartstrings tugged for Matthew, who is always trying to do what is right, even if it may kill him.

But what the novel provides in terms of reach and achievement is streets ahead of most of his contemporaries. An abridged audiobook on CD, narrated by Anton Lesser, was released by Macmillan Digital Audio in 2010. These seven books make for a fabulous series, but Sansom has mentioned that he does wish for the series to go through the reign of Elizabeth I, which I would love.

He comes from a wealthy family, but when a disagreement happens, he goes to work for Matthew Shardlake. some grand reveals too as the story comes to it’s conclusion within a great historical chapter retold with Master Shardlake centre stage. If you do want to know how I feel about each book, I have included links to each of the reviews down below. A great attraction of CJ Sansom's series of novels set in the reign of Henry VIII lies not merely in the authentic background but in the personality of the main character - that persistent seeker after truth, Matthew Shardlake, Sansom's intelligent hunchbacked Tudor lawyer. I was so irritated by Matthew and his bulldog attitude in helping people who neither asked or wanted his help that I wanted to slap him.He sees at first hand the English flotilla of warships, including the King's favourite vessel, the Mary Rose.

J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory . Catherine Parr is on a mission of her own and enlists the help of Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak to investigate the wardship of Hugh Curtey, who is under the protection of Sir Nicholas Hobbey. I always appreciate short chapters which give natural reading breaks but here they become irrelevant when I just felt I had to read the next bit, and then the next. Then there is the sequel, which I think would have Nicholas Overton as the protagonists and the children that we have seen grow up during this series. There are two parallel plot lines, both of which tell interesting stories about the lives of women at that time and the misfortunes which could befall them.On and on it goes; well established characters like Barak and Guy develop not at all, even Shardlake was more interesting as a crabby, short-tempered at times unpleasant lead. Too much description of costume, of weaponry, and mind-numbing detail of Portsmouth in preparation for battle, and of the Mary Rose itself.

There are sometimes when he is not even sure what he stands for, especially when it comes to his stance on religion and if he supports those in power. His actions and the actions of others involved in both cases lead to Shardlake and Barak becoming mixed in the middle of the battle between the French and the English.

Most importantly Barak asks Shardlake to take a hard look at what he is doing and what underlies his obstinacy.