A Christmas Requiem

The perfect historical crime novella to curl up with this Christmas! From a No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author.

At the heart of the Eternal City, danger hides around every corner…

Rome, 1569. When novice monk Giordano Bruno is told the pope wants to see him, his first thought is that it must be a joke. The second is that it must be a trap.

Young Bruno’s talent for complex memory games has caught the attention of the Lord’s Vicar. Summoned to Rome, the city captures Bruno’s imagination, and he soon slips away from his suspicious, austere host Fra Agostino da Montalcino, drawn instead to more glamorous, sophisticated companions.

But accusations of heresy are only ever a whisper away, and Rome is a city of intrigue, trickery and blood. Bruno soon realises he will be lucky to escape the Eternal City alive.

Please note that this story, along with two other Giordano Bruno novellas, will be published as a 3-in-1 collection called The Dead of Winter, coming out in Hardback, ebook and audio in November 2020.

Praise for S.J. Parris

‘A delicious blend of history and thriller’ The Times

‘An omnipresent sense of danger’ Daily Mail

‘Colourful characters, fast-moving plots and a world where one false step in religion or politics can mean a grisly death’ Sunday Times

‘Pacy, intricate, and thrilling… Full of historical detail and rich with atmosphere’ Observer

‘Twists and turns like a corkscrew of venomous snakes’ Stuart MacBride

‘Impossible to resist’ Daily Telegraph

‘It has everything – intrigue, mystery and excellent history’ Kate Mosse

‘Parris writes with confident ease of Tudor London’ The Times

‘Full of surprises’ TLS

About the author

No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller S. J. Parris is the pseudonym of the author and journalist Stephanie Merritt. It was as a student at Cambridge researching a paper on the period that Stephanie first became fascinated by the rich history of Tudor England and Renaissance Europe. Since then, her interest has grown and led her to create this series of historical thrillers featuring Giordano Bruno.

Stephanie has worked as a critic and feature writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines, as well as radio and television. She has also written the contemporary psychological thriller While You Sleep under her own name. She currently writes for the Observer and the Guardian, and lives in Surrey with her son.