Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Obtained from: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Read: October 2, 2013
It is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than their last. In order to appease God’s wrath—and end the heat-wave—the city’s overlords have launched a brutal campaign to whip the city’s sinners into godliness. But for someone in York, this is not enough. First a prostitute and her client are found stabbed to death, then a pair of adulterers are beaten and strangled. York’s sinners have been targeted for execution. Bridget and Martha—assisted once again by Will, Bridget’s good-hearted nephew—race to find the killer even as he adds more bodies to his tally. The list of suspects is long: Hezekiah Ward, a fire and brimstone preacher new to York; Ward’s son, Praise-God, whose intensity mirrors his father’s; John Stubb, one of Ward’s fanatic followers, whose taste for blood may not have been sated by his time in Parliament’s armies. Or could the killer be closer to home? Will’s brother Joseph is no stranger to death, and he shares the Wards’ dreams of driving sin from the city. To find the killer, Bridget, Martha, and Will must uncover the city’s most secret sins, and hope against hope that the killer does not turn his attention in their direction.
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Author Sam Thomas introduced readers
to the independent and unconventional Bridget Hodgson in The Midwife’s Tale,
but her crime solving days are far from over. Picking up a year after the
original story, book two of the series, The Harlot’s Tale, returns to the
tumultuous streets of York, where Bridget, Martha and Will must race to
discover who is sending the city’s sinners to their final judgment.
Before I get
too far ahead of myself, I want to make it clear that while The Harlot’s Tale
can be read independent of its predecessor, the book is best appreciated as a
follow-up. Thomas provides all necessary information for those readers who
might have missed his 2013 debut, but there is a lot to be said for the nuance
and subtle detail built on the foundation of the original which is why I highly
recommend reading the series in chronological order.
Take for
example, Thomas’ setting. Under siege in 1644, York felt like a city under
occupation with its rhythms dominated by military order. A year later, York has
fallen into Puritan hands and is utterly transformed by dogmatic conflict.
Thomas’ ability to first recreate seventeenth century York and then
convincingly reinvent his fiction is nothing short of extraordinary, but the
effort wouldn’t be noticed by those who’d skipped the first installment.
Also of note
is Thomas' cast and how he successfully avoided the situational and personal
drama he highlighted in The Midwife’s Tale. These are the same characters, but
they’ve grown with the passage of time and that progression has wrought slight
changes to their personalities as well as the role each plays in the larger
story. There is a certain degree of familiarity here, but Thomas moves the
story forward, effectively balancing the interests of new readers against those
of his established fans.
Like its
predecessor, I didn’t feel the mystery particularly enigmatic, but that being
said, I liked how it played out. Despite having correctly identified the
culprit in the early stages of the novel, I remained engaged in the narrative
and greatly enjoyed watching the details come to light.
A vividly
atmospheric and action-packed historical, The Harlot's Tale is a deliciously
alluring fiction that cleverly combines doctrine, disorder and death in a
single irresistible volume.
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I have seen thy adulteries and the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thy abominations on the hills in the fields: woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean?
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