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 ‘I found myself laughing out loud at the sheer brilliance of Harkin’s sentences’ Victoria MacKenzie ________________________________________ 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
