Jo Harkin’s The Pretender

Thanks so much to Julie for kindly adding this book to the collection at my request! It is an unusual and compelling novel that I highly recommend for fans of historical fiction, particularly the early Tudor period! If you know your history, you probably see the word Tudor and think of Queen Elizabeth I or her father Henry VIII and his six wives. And you’d be right, but if you really know your history, you may also think of Henry’s father, Henry VII. This novel is set during Henry VII’s reign and the late War of the Roses and focuses on Lambeth Simnel, a little-known claimant to the throne.

I personally love some Tudor plotting in both my nonfiction and fiction and found this novel fascinating. I, for one, had never heard of Simnel before reading this novel, and Harkin does a wonderful job of crafting an origin story for him.

She takes what little is known of him–that he was of humble origin and had powerful allies who claimed he was a nephew of Richard III–and fleshes these details out. The settings are all equally as vividly crafted, from the farm Lambeth was raised on as John to the Oxford home he is sent to for tutoring to the palace courts he then finds himself in.

John/Lambeth is also a fascinating character in his own right. Bright and sensitive but woefully naive and conflicted about the origin story he has been given at the hands of his social betters, the protagonist is not extraordinary by any means, which makes him all the more compelling. At turns, his story is an often hilarious and rather earthy coming-of-age novel, a gripping political drama full of machinations and superb plotting (much of which flies over Lambeth’s head initially), a tense spy drama, and a Hamlet-esque quest for vengeance.

This book was so well-crafted that I was really surprised to learn it was only Harkin’s second novel. I look forward to seeing what she writes in the future and highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical fiction from this period.

Also recommended for those who enjoyed Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall novels and Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait.

Do you like reading about the Tudors? What’s your favorite time in history to read about? What have you been reading? Tell us in the comments! As always, please follow this link to our online library catalog for more information on this book or to place it on hold.