I blazed through full of wonder and admiration ... the writing is searingly confident, the sense of time and place dizzyingly good, the dialogue ribald and the description elegant ... I loved every single page ... The Pretender has everything: history richly drawn, amazing characterisation, humour, wit, vigour and bravery. It's magnificent

EMMA STONEX

Raw, beautiful and true ... I loved it

LEAH REDMOND CHANG

This tale of power, loyalty and treachery is told with vim and verve - I found myself laughing out loud at the sheer brilliance of Harkin's sentences. A book that's intelligent, bawdy, vivid and profound, I enjoyed it so much. A masterful novel

VICTORIA MACKENZIE

Jo Harkin is a unique voice. In this superb imagining of the life of the Pretender, Lambert Simnel, she takes us to the heart of early Tudor England. At turns exhilarating and heartbreaking, it is a wonderful historical novel

LINDA PORTER

Praise for Jo Harkin: Pure pleasure

THE TIMES

Extraordinary, gripping, inventive ... I'll never forget it

EMMA STONEX