Tombland

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Tombland
Tombland book cover.jpg
First edition cover
Author C. J. Sansom
LanguageEnglish
Series Matthew Shardlake Series
SubjectCrime
Genre Historical mystery
Publisher Macmillan
Publication date
18 October 2018
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typeHardback
Pages880
ISBN 9781447284482
Preceded by Lamentation  

Tombland is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is the seventh book in the Matthew Shardlake series, following 2014's Lamentation . [1] Set in the summer of 1549, the story deals with the investigation of a murder in Norfolk. Matthew Shardlake is entrusted by Princess Elizabeth, later Elizabeth I, to investigate the murder of the wife of a distant relative of hers. During the course of the investigation Shardlake gets involved in Kett's Rebellion.

Contents

The title comes from the Tombland area of Norwich which is situated just outside Norwich Cathedral. Tombland's etymology is Danish in origin meaning 'empty space' or 'open land', and in the 11th century the area was home to an Anglo-Scandinavian marketplace. [2]

Characters

Historical characters portrayed in the novel include:

Fictional characters include:

Reception

Critical reception for Tombland has been positive. Stephanie Merritt writing for The Guardian commented that the novel is 'more of a grand historical epic than a tightly packed whodunnit.' [3] In a similar vein Andrew Taylor writing for The Spectator praised the book as 'a Tudor epic disguised as an historical crime novel.' [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norfolk</span> County of England

Norfolk is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west, and Suffolk to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Norwich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kett's Rebellion</span> Rising in Norfolk in 1549

Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in the English county of Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealthy landowners. One of their targets was yeoman Robert Kett who, instead of resisting the rebels, agreed to their demands and offered to lead them. Kett and his forces, joined by recruits from Norwich and the surrounding countryside and numbering some 16,000, set up camp on Mousehold Heath to the north-east of the city on 12 July.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wymondham</span> Market town in Norfolk, England

Wymondham is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road to London. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to the north and south, with hamlets of Suton, Silfield, Spooner Row and Wattlefield. It had a population of 14,405 in 2011, of whom 13,587 lived in the town itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk</span> English nobleman, politician and military commander

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was a prominent English politician and nobleman of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded, and played a major role in the machinations affecting these royal marriages. After falling from favour in 1546, he was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547.

Christopher John Sansom was a British writer of historical crime novels, best known for his Matthew Shardlake series. He also wrote the spy novel Winter in Madrid and the alternate history novel Dominion. He won numerous book awards, including the 2005 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2013 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2022. Shardlake, a television series based on Sansom's novel Dissolution, started streaming on Disney+ less than a week after his death.

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Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield, of Butterwick was an English nobleman who died in Kett's Rebellion.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Boleyn</span> English noblewoman (1499–1543)

Mary Boleyn, also known as Lady Mary, was the sister of English queen consort Anne Boleyn, whose family enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII.

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Augustine Steward, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English politician.

Thomas Sotherton, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English politician.

Christopher Layer, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English merchant, burgess of Norwich, and briefly a Member of Parliament.

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Lamentation is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is his eighth novel and the sixth entry in the Matthew Shardlake Series, following 2010's Heartstone. Set in the summer of 1546, King Henry VIII is dying while the Catholic and Protestant factions of his court are battling for power over his successor, Prince Edward. Matthew Shardlake is deep in work and still feeling the shock of the events of the previous year when Queen Catherine Parr, caught in the throes of the power struggle, again seeks his aid when a potentially controversial manuscript, Lamentation of a Sinner, is stolen from her chambers.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Wood (mayor)</span> English politician

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References

  1. "Lamentation". Fantasticfiction. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  2. "The Viking Norwich Trail". Norfolk Heritage Explorer. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  3. Merritt, Stephanie (28 October 2018). "Tombland by CJ Sansom review – royals and revolting peasants". The Observer. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  4. "Kidnapped by Kett: Tombland, by C.J. Sansom, reviewed". The Spectator. 20 October 2018.