Tombland

C. J. Sansom

Oct 2018 · Pan Macmillan

About this ebook

'C. J. Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going' – The Sunday Times

Tombland is the seventh epic novel in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.

England, 1549. Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos. The economy is in collapse, inflation rages and rebellion is stirring among the peasantry . . .

Since the old king’s death, Matthew Shardlake has been working as a lawyer in the service of Henry’s daughter, the Lady Elizabeth. The gruesome murder of Edith Boleyn – a distant relative in Norfolk – sends Shardlake and his assistant Nicholas Overton to the summer Assizes at Norwich. And then East Anglia explodes, as peasant rebellion breaks out across the country. The yeoman Robert Kett leads a force of thousands in overthrowing the landlords and taking over Norwich, England’s second largest city.

Now Shardlake must decide where his ultimate loyalties lie, as government forces in London prepare to march north and destroy the rebels. Meanwhile he discovers that the murder of Edith Boleyn may have connections reaching into both the heart of the Norfolk gentry and the rebel camp itself . . .

This is the seventh novel in C. J. Sansom's thrilling historical series that started with Dissolution. Includes an Historical Essay from the author on Reimagining Kett's Rebellion.

Ratings and reviews

Shardlake is back, older but no wiser. King Henry is dead and trouble is brewing in the countryside. At the behest of the teenage Princess Elizabeth he travels to Norwich to act as lawyer to John Boleyn, a distant cousin of her mother. Boleyn is on trial for the murder of his wife who had disappeared nine years previously, and had then unexpectedly reappeared. Shardlake seeks to resolve a family mystery but instead becomes embroiled in a war which challenges old certainties . His old household reappear but not all of its members will survive that violent summer. This is the best of the Shardlake books so far and will educate it's readers about a part of English history that they will not have come across at school.

Took a little while to adjust to Shardlakes's change of circumstances from previous books but in the end it was a riveting account of a (for me) previously unknown part of English history. Sansome writes so well and his characters are fully realised.

Previous books in this series have been page turners. This book was good but slower paced than the others.

About the author

C. J. Sansom was educated at Birmingham University, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. After working in a variety of jobs, he retrained as a solicitor and practised in Sussex, until becoming a full-time writer. Sansom is the bestselling author of the acclaimed Shardlake series, the Spanish Civil War thriller Winter in Madrid and the number one bestseller Dominion. In 2023, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. He lives in Sussex.