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In the hands of a master thriller writer, the dark, dangerous days of Tudor England come alive as never before. An anonymous young man's life is about to be changed, as could the course of history. It's 1536 and powerful men reveal to this young man that it is he, and not the tyrannical Henry VIII, who should be in the throne of England. Can these powerful men persuade him to think that treason, rebellion and murder are reasonable risks to achieve their goal in this vivid evocation of the dark days of Tudor England?
From the Introduction by Robert Hutchinson in The Blanket of the Dark:
'His historical novels may have been eclipsed in popularity by the timeless derring-do appeal of his adventure stories, but this is wholly wrong in my view. Their dialogue might sometimes seem a little contrived, or a little pedestrian, but they form a corpus of powerful narratives which remain page-turners even to our jaded modern tastes. The Blanket of the Dark is one of the most compelling and, what is more, evokes the real, naked fear in Tudor England.'
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Synopsis
The Blanket of the Dark by John Buchan
Buchan skilfully weaves the story of young clerk Peter Pentecost, who has a claim to the throne, and a tale of intrigue against King Henry VIII, where 'under the blanket of the dark all men are alike and all are nameless'. Buchan's description of the ruthless king is compelling. His knowledge of the time of Henry's reign and his love of the Oxfordshire countryside are apparent.
Reviews
'Buchan knew that you can't buck the consequences of your actions, and that your life is what you make of it. Perhaps his peculiarly Scottish combination of Romanticism and Calvinism - daring living and high thinking - is due to return to fashion.' - The Independent Magazine
About the Author
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John Buchan led a truly extraordinary life: he was a diplomat, soldier, barrister, journalist, historian, politician, publisher, poet and novelist. He was born in Perth in 1875, the eldest son of a Free Church of Scotland minister, and educated at Hutcheson’s Grammar School in Glasgow. He graduated from Glasgow University then took a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford. During his time there – ‘spent peacefully in an enclave like a monastery’ – he wrote two historical novels.
In 1901 he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and a private secretary to the High Commissioner for South Africa. In 1907 he married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor; they had three sons and a daughter. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George’s Director of Information and a Conservative MP, Buchan – now Sir John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield - moved to Canada in 1935 where he had been appointed Governor-General.
Despite poor health throughout his life, Buchan’s literary output was remarkable – thirty novels, over sixty non-fiction books, including biographies of Sir Walter Scott and Oliver Cromwell, and seven collections of short stories. In 1928 he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Britain’s oldest literary prize for his biography of the Marquis of Montrose. Buchan’s distinctive thrillers – ‘shockers’ as he called them – were characterised by suspenseful atmosphere, conspiracy theories and romantic heroes, notably Richard Hannay (based on the real-life military spy William Ironside) and Sir Edward Leithen. Buchan was a favourite writer of Alfred Hitchcock, whose screen adaptation of The Thirty-Nine Steps was phenomenally successful.
John Buchan served as Governor-General of Canada until his death in 1940, the year his autobiography Memory Hold-the-door was published. His last novel Sick Heart River was published posthumously in 1941.
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Categories
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Categories
Mystery / Thriller
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