Description
‘An absolute delight … Funny, moving, filthy and original … A frontrunner for historical fiction book of the year’ The Times
‘Funny and devastating. I'm having a fantastic time reading it’ Yael van der Wouden
Kill the pretender. Do not let it be known that there was a pretender to kill.
The year is 1483 and England is in peril. The much-despised Richard III is not long for the throne, and the man who will become Henry VII stands poised to snatch the crown for himself. But for twelve-year-old John Collan, living in a remote village with his widowed father, these matters seem far away.
But history has other plans for John. Stolen from his family, exiled – first to Oxford, then to Burgundy, and then Ireland – and apprenticed to a series of unscrupulous political operators, he finds himself groomed for power; not as John Collan, but as Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick – and rightful heir to the throne. Far from home at the Irish court, preparing for a war that will see him become king or die trying, John has just his wits – and the slippery counsel of his host’s daughter, the unconventional Joan – to navigate the choppy waters ahead.
Paperback
Publication: 9 Apr 2026, Bloomsbury
ISBN: 9781526678362
Extent: 464 pages
