Fifteenth century England is something I know very little about but reading this book has taught me a great deal. It is a work of fiction but is based on a real person and events. I listened to this on audio so I have not read a disclaimer or author’s note.
The plot is complicated (as indeed were political events at this time), but is told chronologically and is therefore easy to follow. John Collan is a young boy living in rural Oxfordshire with his widowed father and two older brothers. The scene is set of a young innocent with a carefree life and a loving family and people around him who are keen to protect him, most notably his friend Jennet, the milkmaid, a fantastically coarse but lovable character. That fairly idyllic upbringing is brought to an abrupt end, however, when two fine gentlemen turn up and take John away. The boy is told that he is in fact of royal lineage and was placed in the care of the Collan family for his own protection when he was a baby, but that the time has now come for him to rise to his destiny. He is to be taken away and prepared for the role that awaits him.
John is taken to Oxford and given his new name Lambert Simnel – this is the name of the person who is known to have existed. Initially, the boy has mixed feelings – he is excited at his new prospects, but also misses his family. He is not permitted any remnants from his old life but secretes one or two simple reminders among the meagre belongings he takes with him. It soon becomes clear that the two so-called gentlemen have very little care for the boy, and are simply lining their own pockets at his expense. In fact, it will become clear that no-one really has the boy’s best interests at heart, he is simply a pawn in a dangerous political scheme.
At this time, Richard III is on the throne – the Wars of the Roses have caused great turbulence in the country and there are many plots and counter-plots at play as others with claims to royalty seek to further their ambitions in the face of a weak and embattled crown. After Oxford, Lambert will be taken to Mechelen in Belgium where he is patronised by noblemen and women there with their own plans for the English throne. Lambert is told he is the Earl of Warwick and as his identity goes through changes we watch him evolving into his role. Both his speech and his worldview change – the innocent boy takes on the mantle of the pretender to the throne.
From Mechelen, Lambert will travel to Ireland where he lives under the protection of an Irish nobleman. He falls in love with Joan, one of the man’s daughters – which will have consequences for them both. This part is poignant since we are reminded that he is merely a teenager experiencing the first pangs of lust and love. And that he did not seek the destiny that has been thrust upon him.
When Henry VII replaced Richard on the throne in 1485 it began a period of stability in England which was a great contrast to what had gone before. Lambert’s situation becomes increasingly bleak, but yet the events of his life seem to be getting ever further beyond his control. His cynicism grows, so tragic in one so young, as the pressures on him grow.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it takes a small piece of English political history and explores the human story that might have lain behind it, something historians seldom do when they outline great events of past times. Its theme, how the people at the centre of events are manipulated to serve others, is one we can see repeated in political machinations across the globe over the centuries.
I recommended this book highly and with its smattering of love and sex as well, makes it perfect holiday reading!
This month, I would like to recommend Catherine Doyle’s The Storm Keeper’s Island, published last year by Bloomsbury, as a fantastic choice for any young people you know who like modern adventure stories where the good guy wins. Catherine Doyle is a young writer (just 29 years old) and has published several YA novels already; The Storm Keeper’s Island is her first novel for what is called the “middle grade”, ie about 9-12 years, and it was a barn-storming debut, winning several prizes and accolades from established authors in this genre. A second novel, following the further adventures of the main character Fionn Boyle, is planned for this summer and I would expect it to feature heavily in recommended holiday reading lists in advance of the Summer Reading Challenge.
The novel is set in Lahn Dan, you’ll recognise the pun, but the place described in the book will be unfamiliar; it is practically a separate city-state within England, encircled by the ‘Emm Twenty-Five Wall’ that none of the inhabitants dare cross (told that there is only a deserted wilderness on the other side anyway). This is a time after ‘the Gases’ (a reference to climate change), the ‘Tems’ has deteriorated to a muddy flat and only the rich are able to live in the ‘crystal towers’ that afford them some natural light and allow them to live above the pollution layer. In a nod to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World there is a strict hierarchy in the society: at the bottom are the Pbs, who do most of the work, then slightly higher up are the Cus, the professional classes, but true power lies only with the Aus. Give the child a prize who spots that these are chemical symbols and what this says about the social order! Lahn Dan is run by ‘the Minister’ a distant and slightly mythical figure, not unlike Big Brother, whose orders are carried out by Mordecai and his Secret Police. It all has echoes of 1984.
One of the books I consulted as part of my research into understanding more about the disease, its symptoms and its effects, was published very recently, in 2017. It’s called Catching Breath: the making and unmaking of tuberculosis by Kathryn Lougheed. The author is a former scientific researcher and is now a journalist and science writer. The book is excellent. It is fantastically well-written, even funny in parts (the author has an interesting sense of humour – her Twitter handle is @ilovebacteria!). She is out to make some serious points, however, about this, one of the oldest diseases known to humanity, which has so successfully mutated, crossed species and diversified and which just keeps on winning. Her main argument is that TB remains a disease of poverty and inequality. Globally, it affects the weakest – the young, the old, the poor or those who are already sick. She argues that, although it is a complex disease, if there was sufficient political will, many more lives could be saved. If there was as much resource and international effort put into tackling TB as there has been, say, to addressing AIDS, there would have been far greater success to date. In 2015 the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced its ‘
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