The Pretender
A sweeping historical novel in the vein of Hilary Mantel and Maggie O’Farrell set during the time of the Tudors’ ascent. The Pretender tells the darkly humorous story of Lambert Simnel, who was believed to be the true heir to the throne occupied by Henry VII, raised in obscurity as a peasant boy to protect his safety, and briefly crowned, at the age of thirteen, as King Edward VI, last of the Plantagenet kings.
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 upends his life forever: John discovers he is not the son of a farmer but Edward, Earl of Warwick, the…
JO HARKIN’s first novel, Tell Me an Ending, was published in 2022. She lives in Berkshire, England.
