The Pretender - by Jo Harkin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In 1480 John Collan's greatest anxiety is how to circumvent the village's devil goat on his way to collect water. But the arrival of a well-dressed stranger from London upends his life forever: John is not John Collan, not the son of Will Collan but Lambert Simnel, the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence, and has been hidden in the countryside after a brotherly rift over the crown--and because Richard III has a habit of disappearing his nephews.

Removed from his humble origins and sent to Oxford to be educated in a manner befitting the throne's rightful heir, Lambert is put into play by his masters. He learns the rules of etiquette in Burgundy and the machinations of the court in Ireland, where he encounters the intractable Joan, the delightfully strong-willed and manipulative daughter of his Irish patrons, a girl imbued with both extraordinary political savvy and occasional murderous tendencies. Joan has two paths available to her--marry or become a nun. Lambert's choices are similarly stark: he will either become king or die in battle. Together they form an alliance that will change the fate of the English monarchy.

Inspired by a footnote to history--the true story of the little-known Simnel, who was a figurehead of the 1487 Yorkist rebellion and ended up working as a spy in the court of King Henry VII--The Pretender is historical fiction at its finest, a gripping, exuberant, rollicking portrait of British monarchy and life within the court, with a cast of unforgettable heroes and villains drawn from fifteenth-century England. A masterful work from a major new author

Review Quotes

"The Pretender is a rollicking account of a befuddled boy's pillar-to-post existence as a political pawn." --The New York Times

"The Pretender reimagines how a child was plucked out of obscurity to be groomed as a royal during the tumultuous Tudor era. Villains! Intrigue! Tons of humor! This is historical fiction at its finest." --Real Simple

"[The Pretender] contains some of the most authentic writing in a child's voice I've ever read. And while the book is a deeply engaging read, it underlines profoundly the experience of those who must try to forge and keep their identity without agency, caught in the powerful maw of history." --NPR

"Fantastically accomplished. . . . A bold and brilliant comedy of royal intrigue. . . . There's a deep love for literature here, and a desire to showcase the formation of the late-medieval mind, which elevates The Pretender above other novels about this period. . . . Scattered with fine knobbly period language and witty dialogue, and this stylish delivery brings with it considerable substance." --The Guardian

"A poignant odyssey." --The Washington Post

"Funny, moving, and filthy in equal measure." --The Times (London)

"Dazzling. . . . The Pretender is a stylish, profane, hilarious read, and Harkin is the proverbial writer to watch." --The Minnesota Star Tribune

"Harkin skillfully evokes the foreboding and intrigue that surrounds the throne with rough-hewn language and fistfuls of bawdy humor. . . . [a] rollicking saga of royalty, loyalty, lechery and treachery." --BookPage

"Harkin's imaginative take on a calculated hoax in English history and portrait of a curious young personage is a wildly entertaining and satirical comedy full of interesting characters." --Booklist (starred review)

"This razor-sharp historical is on par with Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"What Jo Harkin has accomplished in The Pretender left me awestruck on every page. I had no idea that a medieval historical novel could be this wickedly funny, this timely and timeless. A work of genius, a wellspring of laughter and sorrow, a feat of time-travel, and a feast of language." --Karen Russell, author of The Antidote

"The Pretender is a vivid, transporting feat of imagination and storytelling, so alive I felt Jo Harkin might be a time traveler." --Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle

"The Pretender had me under its spell from the very first page. I read it with the dedicated fervour of a kid discovering literature for the first time--the magic of it, the way it transports you, the way you don't want to say goodbye to the pages as you turn them. I took it with me everywhere for months, I read it on trains and buses and laughed and cried in public many times. A genuinely brilliant voice. I will recommend this to everyone for years to come: to hear what they think, to enrich their lives, and so that they in turn can understand something about me that can only be communicated through the passing on of a good book." --Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep

"A brilliant piece of historical storytelling that's also gorgeously irreverent, contemporary, and fun. Witty, poignant, wildly engaging, and with a huge heart--I loved it." --Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith

"I blazed through full of wonder and admiration. . . . The writing is searingly confident, the sense of time and place dizzyingly good, the dialogue ribald and the description elegant. . . . I loved every single page. . . . The Pretender has everything: history richly drawn, amazing characterization, humor, wit, vigor, and bravery. It's magnificent." --Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

"Jo Harkin's writing is consistently original, vivid, and witty. [The Pretender is] Glorious Exploits meets Wolf Hall--and I completely loved it." --Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre

"The Pretender is the real deal--nimble, vibrant, playful, and daring. It pulses with life. I loved it." --Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

About the Author