The Pretender
A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead in a sharply ambitious, brilliantly imagined and hugely entertaining story of intrigue, deceit, revenge and ambition
**NAMED AS BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE SUNDAY TIMES**
**PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 BY THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY MAIL, AND THE I**
'Wickedly funny ... the filthy, clever, immersive picaresque you didn't know you needed' Guardian, The best fiction of 2025
'I read it with the dedicated fervour of a kid discovering literature for the first time' Yael van der Wouden
'Funny, moving, filthy and original' The Times
'So alive I felt Harkin might be a time traveller' Maggie Shipstead
'The most enjoyable historical novel I've read in years' Spectator
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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.
Seething with revenge and machination, sparkling with wit and humanity, and roaring with adventure and bravado, The Pretender is the captivating true story of a young man tossed into the chaos of history as it happens.
**Praise for The Pretender**
'A brainy, heartfelt delight' Guardian, 50 hottest books to read now
'Witty, poignant, wildly engaging, and with a huge heart' Sarah Waters
'Touching and hilarious' The Times, 80 best books to take on holiday
'Like a Plantagenet Adrian Mole' Jenny Colgan
'A rollicking account of a befuddled boy's pillar-to-post existence as a political pawn' New York Times
'The real deal – nimble, vibrant, playful, and daring' Kiran Millwood Hargrave
'Ambitious, mischievous and brilliantly written' Daily Mail
'I blazed through full of wonder and admiration' Emma Stonex
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The mesmerizing sophomore novel from Harkin (Tell Me an Ending) takes its inspiration from the true story of one of the pretenders to the throne of England. In 1493, John Collan, a 10-year-old living with his widowed father on a farm in the English countryside, is visited by two men who claim he's actually Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick and nephew of King Richard III. According to the men, John has been hidden away because of the king's penchant for doing away with his presumptive heirs. As Edward, he becomes the figurehead of the Yorkist revolt against Richard's successor, the Lancastrian usurper, Henry VII. When the revolt fails, Edward's life is spared and he's given a job in the king's kitchen, where he becomes involved in numerous court intrigues and trysts, even as the real Earl of Warwick is imprisoned in the Tower of London. Living by his wits, Edward bides his time and plots to get even with those who betrayed him. Not much is known about the real-life pretender, but that doesn't prevent Harkin from fully imagining his life, and the rowdy world in which he lived, via the novel's intriguing plot and exquisitely profane language. This razor-sharp historical is on par with Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.
