The second Shardlake novel in C J Sansom's remarkable historical crime series.
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. His Shardlake series includes Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone and Lamentation. C.J. Sansom died in April 2024.
Historical crime fiction is sometimes little more than a modern
adventure in fancy dress. Not so the novels of C. J. Sansom, whose
magnificent books set in the reign of Henry VIII bring to life the
sounds and smells of Tudor England . . . Dark Fire is a creation of
real brilliance.
*Sunday Times*
Sansom gives us a broad view of politics – Tudor housing to rival
Rachman, Dickensian prisons, a sewage-glutted Thames, beggars in
gutters, conspiracies at court and a political system predicated on
birth not merit, intrigue not intelligence . . . like many before
him, he offers an enjoyable history; but this is also an ethically
informed one . . . a strong and intelligent novel.
*Guardian*
One of the author’s greatest gifts is the immediacy of his
descriptions . . . But it is Shardlake himself who steals the show.
His honesty and humility shine out in a dark world where murder and
mayhem are the order of the day.
*Colin Dexter*
Spellbinding . . . Sansom’s vivid portrayal of squalid, stinking,
bustling London; the city’s wealth and poverty; the brutality and
righteousness of religious persecution; and the complexities of
English law make this a suspenseful, colourful and compelling
tale.
*Publishers Weekly*
Dark Fire is wonderful stuff, featuring a sort of Tudor Rebus who
moves through the religious and political chaos of the 1540s with
sinister élan.
*Glasgow Herald*
CJ Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going
*Sunday Times*
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