Turtle Soup for the King

In February 1820, a gang of men, led by Arthur Thistlewood and his committee gather in a loft to assassinate the British Cabinet, ostensibly dining together in nearby Grosvenor Square. The plot has been masterminded by a government spy. Though the Committee is hanged, their ambitions do not die with them.

Driven by hunger and by rage at the Peterloo massacre of August 1819, the men are easily led. It has been easy for historians to dismiss the so-called “Cato Street Conspirators” as misguided fools. But with what meager resources, they fought to the bone for universal suffrage! Judy Meewezen plunders her own extensive research and experiences to imagine the story from the participants’ point of view, of their own and their families’ efforts to create a fairer world.

“It is exceptionally well researched, and shows a deep understanding of the circumstances, personal and historical, that could lead people to imagine that they could assassinate their own government and set off a popular rebellion. There are fictional events and characters, but these fit so well with what is known that the dividing line is almost imperceptible, even to the well-informed reader. It pulls off the trick of making the conspiracy seem at the same time both bizarre and understandable…” — Robert Poole, Professor of History, UCLAN, School of Humanities