C J Sansom's next Shardlake novel set during peasant revolt

C J Sansom’s seventh Matthew Shardlake novel Tombland will be published by Mantle in October.

Antony Topping at Greene & Heaton negotiated the deal for British and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada, with the work publishing on 18th October in hardcover, e-book, audio and trade paperback. The seventh book, set in the 16th Century, features lawyer Matthew Shardlake and will be a major lead title campaign for the Pan Macmillan imprint in autumn.

The novel follows 2014’s Lamentation and sees Shardlake in a new murder case on behalf of Lady Elizabeth, taking him to Norwich where he finds himself caught up in the midst of Kett’s rebellion during the peasant revolt of 1549.

The Scottish-born author has been published by Pan Macmillan for 15 years, starting with Dissolution in 2003, and has gone on to sell 3.3 million copies for £22.6m, according to Nielsen BookScan.

Sansom said: “It is a delight to have completed Tombland. I have wanted for a long time to write about the surprisingly little-known English peasant rebellions of 1549, in which more rebels were killed than in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, and of which Kett’s rebellion in Norfolk was the largest. 

“It has been a long time in the making – partly because of the sheer amount of research needed, partly because of delays through health problems. But here it is at last, with a murder mystery having ramifications both within and outside the rebel camp at the centre of the story.”