Heresy
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3.9 • 182 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
The first book in the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling series following Giordano Bruno, set at the time of Queen Elizabeth I
In Elizabeth’s England, true faith can mean bloody murder…
Oxford, 1583. A place of learning. And murderous schemes.
The country is rife with plots to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and return the realm to the Catholic faith. Giordano Bruno is recruited by the queen’s spymaster and sent undercover to expose a treacherous conspiracy in Oxford – but his own secret mission must remain hidden at all costs.
A spy under orders. A coveted throne under threat.
When a series of hideous murders ruptures close-knit college life, Bruno is compelled to investigate. And what he finds makes it brutally clear that the Tudor throne itself is at stake…
Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Hilary Mantel
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’ Observer
‘Vivid, sprawling … Well-crafted, exuberant’ Financial Times
‘Impossible to resist’ Daily Telegraph
'An atmospheric and well-written historical thriller' Guardian
‘Twists and turns like a corkscrew of venomous snakes’ Stuart MacBride
‘It has everything – intrigue, mystery and excellent history’ Kate Mosse
‘The period is incredibly vivid and the story utterly gripping’ Conn Iggulden
‘A brilliantly unusual glimpse at the intrigues surrounding Queen Elizabeth I’ Andrew Taylor
“Rich in both historical detail and ingenious twists” Sam Bourne (bestselling author of The Righteous Men)
Reviews
‘Heresy has everything – intrigue, mystery, excellent history and haunting sense of place. The beginning of a wonderful new detective series’ Kate Mosse
‘Fascinating … The period is incredibly vivid and the story utterly gripping’ Conn Iggulden (bestselling author of Bones of the Hills and The Dangerous Book for Boys)
'Parris paces her yarn perfectly' Daily Telegraph
'An atmospheric and well-written historical thriller' Guardian
'Parris succeeds where much historical fiction fails' Observer
‘Heresy is a riveting read. Rich in both historical detail and ingenious twists, S J Parris has created a character in Giordano Bruno that will endure. A true rival to C J Sansom’ Sam Bourne (bestselling author of The Righteous Men)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1583 against a backdrop of religious-political intrigue and barbaric judicial reprisals, Parris's compelling debut centers on real-life Giordano Bruno, a former Italian monk excommunicated by the Roman Catholic church and hunted across Europe by the Inquisition for his belief in a heliocentric infinite universe. Befriended by the charismatic English courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney, the ambitious Bruno flees to more tolerant Protestant England, where Elizabeth I's secretary of state, Sir Francis Walsingham, recruits him to spy, under the cover of philosophical disputation, on secretly Catholic Oxford scholars suspected of plotting treason. As one Oxford fellow after another falls to gruesome homicide, Bruno struggles to unravel Oxford's "tangled loyalties." Parris (the pseudonym of British journalist Stephanie Merritt) interweaves historical fact with psychological insight as Bruno, a humanist dangerously ahead of his time, begins his quest to light the fire of enlightenment in Europe.
Customer Reviews
Brilliant
All the Bruno books are just brilliant. Prepare to disappear in Tudor England & all it's dark politics.
V.Good
After a slow start, I was hooked and it was hard to put down. It helps you see and relive those times and realise how crazy some people can truly be.