NPR’s Books We Love • Named a Best Book of 2025 by Barnes & Noble • The Guardian • Daily Mail • Real Simple “A frontrunner for historical fiction book of the year.” —The TimesA sweeping historical novel in the vein of Hilary Mantel and Maggie O’Farrell set during the time of the Tudors’ ascent. The Pretender tells the darkly humorous story of Lambert Simnel, who was believed to be the true heir to the throne occupied by Henry VII, raised in obscurity as a peasant boy to protect his safety, and briefly crowned, at the age of thirteen, as King Edward VI, last of the Plantagenet kings.In 1483, John Collan's greatest anxiety is how to circumvent the village's devilish goat on his way to collect water. But the arrival of a well-dressed stranger upends his life forever: John discovers he is not the son of a farmer but Edward, Earl of Warwick, the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence, and has been hidden in the countryside after a brotherly rift over the crown. But now the time has come for him to take his place as rightful heir to the throne and overthrow Henry VII, the first Tudor king. Abruptly removed from his humble origins, John is put into play by his masters: learning Latin in Oxford, aristocratic manners in Burgundy, and courtly machinations in Ireland. There he encounters Joan, the delightfully strong-willed and manipulative daughter of his Irish patrons, a girl imbued with both extraordinary political savvy and occasional murderous tendencies. Joan has two paths available to her: marry or become a nun. Lambert's choices are similarly stark: He will either become king or die in battle. Together they form an alliance that will change the fate of the English monarchy.Inspired by a footnote to history—the true story of the little-known Simnel, who was a figurehead of the 1487 Yorkist rebellion and ended up working in the court of King Henry VII—The Pretender is historical fiction at its finest, a gripping, exuberant, irreverent portrait of British monarchy and life within the court, with a cast of unforgettable heroes and villains drawn from fifteenth-century England. A masterful new work from a major new author.
