Our History discussion
Dissolution
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Sera
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Jan 26, 2008 07:29AM
I recently purchased this book, and just noticed that it is on this book discussion's bookshelf. Has anyone read it? If so, what did you think about it?
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I loved this book, along with the 2 others in the series. It's a historical mystery set in 1537, when Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell are in the process of shutting down the monasteries and confiscating their property. Matthew Shardlake is a hunchbacked lawyer sent to investigate the murder of one of Cromwell's men at a monastery. There's a lot of period detail, and you really get a sense of what it was like to live in those days, when being on the "right" side of political or religious issues was literally a matter of life or death. You also develop an understanding of what it must have been like to have a physical disability in the Tudor era, when most people believed that one's physical appearance was a reflection of their soul, and therefore a hunchback was a visible sign of God's displeasure.
It's a bit like The Name of the Rose, where the author takes the murder mystery framework, and weaves in a variety of historical, social and political details. Great stuff!
Thank you for the information, MBP - now where to fit in in my reading schedule - lol. Is this the first book in the series? Do you have the names of the other two books? I want to add them to my "to read" list.
Dissolution is the first in the series; the other two are Dark Fire and Sovereign. Enjoy!
I hadn't heard of these books, but they sound really good! Thanks for the rec.
And there is a fourth book in the series - Revelation - which is not out in the US yet. They keep postponing the publication date, currently (I think) to February 2009.It's worth waiting for, though, as all the books are, in my view, excellent.
