Dissolution
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Dissolution
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Narrated by:
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Anton Lesser
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By:
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C. J. Sansom
Summary
Abridged edition.
Dissolution is the first in the phenomenal Shardlake series by bestselling author, C. J. Sansom.
It is 1537, a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066. Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved.
But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the altar, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic.
Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes . . .
Follow Shardlake into the dark heart of Tudor England with Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone, Lamentation and Tombland.
The voices Anton Lesser inhabits as he tells the story are so vivid and real.
I adore Anton Lesser, his remarkable acting, that
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brilliant.
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Superb!
Anton Lesser does it again
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It is set in a period of change in England, and as such, you can tell the author has researched this time heavily.
Shardlake is a character who is already weary of the the way things are being changed and the violence on both sides. He is drawn into a job he doesn't really want, and he begins to change his views even more ( made clear in following books). He gets as much wrong as he does right, so as an investigator, he perhaps doesn't have the best skills - although he is clearly respected as a lawyer.
Well known people are mentioned in the book, primarily Cromwell, who is at the heart of all the ills that this book covers.
It's very well written and you get a real sense of the period - such as where all the money was and the awful poverty. The descriptions of the settings, such as the smells, really leap off the page. The Tudor period is a very well trodden path and to a degree, overdone in terms of documentaries and drama. However, I do feel this has bought something different.
If you are not sure about this book, try listening to the BBC adaptations. Having listened to this, they stick close to the original. It is a great opener to a series.
Well abridged and accurate history
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I was a bit confused at the start by the references to 'Cromwell' at the same time as Henry VIII, but then I worked out it was Thomas Cromwell (not Oliver, but his great-great-uncle).
There were the usual gruesome murders that you can expect from this genre of fiction, and, I'll have to admit, that it was only near the end that I worked out who did it. There was also lots of interesting background about life in the Tudor period, and the dissolution of the monasteries and the Reformation.
Nice historical fiction
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