Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead in a sharply ambitious brilliantly imagined and hugely
entertaining story of intrigue deceit revenge and ambition Kill the pretender. Do not let
it be known that there was a pretender to kill. The year is 1480 and England is in peril. The
much-despised Richard III is not long for the throne and the man who will become Henry VII
stands poised to snatch the crown for himself. But for twelve-year-old John Collan living in a
remote village with his widowed father these matters seem far away. But history has other
plans for John. Stolen from his family exiled - first to Oxford then to Burgundy and then
Ireland - and apprenticed to a series of unscrupulous political operators he finds himself
groomed for power not as John Collan but as Edward Plantagenet 17th Earl of Warwick - and
rightful heir to the throne. Far from home at the Irish court preparing for a war that will
see him become king or die trying John has just his wits - and the slippery counsel of his
host's daughter the unconventional Joan - to navigate the choppy waters ahead. Seething with
revenge and machination sparkling with wit and humanity and roaring with adventure and
bravado The Pretender is the captivating true story of a young man tossed into the chaos of
history as it happens.
