The Pretender

Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead in a sharply ambitious, brilliantly imagined and hugely entertaining story of intrigue, deceit, revenge and ambition 'A bold and brilliant comedy of royal intrigue' Guardian 'Funny, moving, filthy and original' The Times 'So alive I felt Harkin might be a time traveller' Maggie Shipstead 'I read it with the dedicated fervour of a kid discovering literature for the first time' Yael van der Wouden 'The most enjoyable historical novel I've read in years' Spectator ________________________________________ 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 t