{ "item_title" : "The Pretender", "item_author" : [" Jo Harkin "], "item_description" : "Set in the tumultuous period of the Tudors' ascent, The Pretender brings to life the little-known story of Lambert Simnel. From humble beginnings as a peasant boy, Lambert's life takes an astonishing turn when, at just ten years old, he becomes a claimant to the English throne as one of the last of the Plantagenet line. As Lambert navigates the treacherous waters of royal intrigue and court life, complex themes of identity, power, and destiny unfold, weaving a tapestry of ambition and survival in a world where the stakes couldn't be higher.A...transporting feat of imagination and storytelling.--Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling-author of Great CircleNAMED A NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Guardian, The Sunday Times In 1483, John Collan's greatest anxiety is how to circumvent the village's devilish goat on his way to collect water. But the arrival of a well-dressed stranger from London upends his life forever: John discovers he is not the son of a farmer but Edward, Earl of Warwick, the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence, and has been hidden in the countryside after a brotherly rift over the crown--and because Richard III has a habit of disappearing his nephews. But now the time has come for him to take his place as rightful heir to the throne and overthrow Henry VII, the first Tudor king. Abruptly removed from his humble origins, John is put into play by his masters: learning Latin in Oxford, aris­tocratic manners in Burgundy, and courtly machinations in Ireland, where he encounters Joan, the delightfully strong-willed and manipulative daughter of his Irish patrons, a girl imbued with both extraordinary political savvy and occa­sional murderous tendencies. Joan has two paths available to her: marry or become a nun. Lambert's choices are similarly stark: He will either become king or die in battle. Together they form an alliance that will change the fate of the English monarchy. Inspired by a footnote to history--the true story of the little-known Simnel, who was a figurehead of the 1487 Yorkist rebellion and ended up working in the court of King Henry VII--The Pretender is historical fiction at its finest, a gripping, exuberant, irreverent portrait of British monarchy and life within the court, with a cast of unforgettable he­roes and villains drawn from fifteenth-century England. A masterful new work from a major new author.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/59/380/330/0593803302_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "30.00", "online_price" : "30.00", "our_price" : "30.00", "club_price" : "30.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "30.00" } }

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If you’re the sort of person who hangs on to every morsel of palace drama between Princes Harry and William, if you binge-watched every episode of The Crown twice, if your copy of Burke's Peerage is dog-eared from overuse, then Jo Harkin’s sophomore novel, The Pretender, should be right up your alley. On the other hand, if you can’t tell a Tudor from a Stuart, if your grasp of British history is limited to 1066, the Magna Carta and James Bond, The Pretender might still be right up your alley. Here’s why.

As we’ve learned from the massive success of Game of Thrones, the public has a virtually unquenchable thirst for watching royal dynasties die nastily. And things aren’t looking good for King Henry VII in 1485, despite his army having slain Richard III; forces are at play both abroad and at home to have his throne usurped by any of a number of pretenders.

The Pretender’s protagonist, introduced to us as John Collan, is one of them. Young John is spirited off from his father’s farm in the company of a mysterious nobleman and a priest, rechristened as Lambert Simons, and told he is the rightful heir to the British throne. What could possibly go wrong? When Lambert inquires whether he will have to take the crown from Henry by violent means, his tutor-priest replies, “Oh no, I’m sure he’ll hand it over full apologetic. . . . Don’t be an ass.”

After his initial schooling in Oxford, Lambert continues on to Burgundy and Ireland, where he is steeped in the intricacies of etiquette and politics in a manner befitting a future monarch. It’s in the latter that he meets—and falls in love with—Joan, the proto-feminist daughter of the Lord Deputy of Ireland. He realizes, to his dismay, that such a match is out of the question, as he could marry her in neither of his two likely futures: king of England or disgraced (and possibly dead) peasant pretender. 

But which of these two fates will befall him? What will become of his beloved? And there’s also the slight matter of England, whose fortune hangs in the balance. Harkin skillfully evokes the foreboding and intrigue that surrounds the throne with rough-hewn language and fistfuls of bawdy humor. Her rollicking saga of royalty, loyalty, lechery and treachery is fit for a king . . . or a man who was merely told he would be one.