Selected as a book of summer 2025 by the Guardian , Daily Mail , Sunday Times and i paper Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead in a sharply ambitious, brilliantly imagined and hugely entertaining story of intrigue, deceit, revenge and ambition ‘An absolute delight … Funny, moving, filthy and original … A frontrunner for historical fiction book of the year’ The Times ‘A bold and brilliant comedy of royal intrigue’ Guardian , Book of the day ‘A vivid, transporting feat of imagination’ Maggie Shipstead ‘Witty, poignant, wildly engaging, and with a huge heart - I loved it’ Sarah Waters ‘ Brilliantly buoyant, clever, funny, original, vivid, witty ’ Joanna Quinn ‘ The Pretender has everything: history richly drawn, amazing characterisation, humour, wit, vigour and bravery’ Emma Stonex ‘Funny and devastating. I''m having a fantastic time reading it’ Yael van der Wouden 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. ‘Wickedly funny… A work of genius, a wellspring of laughter and sorrow, a feat of time travel, and a feast of language'' Karen Russell ‘Raw, beautiful and true ... I loved it’ Leah Redmond Chang ‘An absolute thumper … Funny and filthy and brave and brilliant’ Marianne Levy ‘Superb, exhilarating and heartbreaking’ Linda Porter ‘I couldn''t put it down’ Tracy Borman
