C. J. Sansom

Christopher John Sansom is a British writer of historical crime novels. He was born in 1952 in Edinburgh and was educated at the University of Birmingham, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history.[1] After working in a variety of jobs, he decided to retrain as a solicitor. He practised in Sussex as a lawyer for the disadvantaged, before leaving the legal profession to become a full-time writer. He lives in Sussex.[1]

Christopher Sansom
Born1952
Edinburgh, Scotland
OccupationAuthor
NationalityBritish
GenreHistorical fiction, crime fiction
Notable worksShardlake series
Notable awardsSidewise Award
Website
cjsansom.com

Work

Sansom came to prominence with the Shardlake series, his historical mystery series set in the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century. The series' main character is the hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, who is assisted in his adventures by Mark Poer, then Jack Barak and also Nicholas Overton. Shardlake works on commission initially from Thomas Cromwell in Dissolution and Dark Fire, then Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in Sovereign and Revelation, Queen Catherine Parr in Heartstone and Lamentation and finally Princess Elizabeth in Tombland. Dark Fire won the 2005 Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger.

After Dark Fire was published, a Sunday Times review made this comment: "Historical crime fiction is sometimes little more than a modern adventure in fancy dress. Not so the novels of CJ Sansom, whose magnificent books set in the reign of Henry VIII bring to life the sounds and smells of Tudor England..."[2]

Shardlake works as a lawyer in the service of Henry's younger daughter, the Lady Elizabeth, in the novel Tombland (published in 2018), investigating a murder during the time of Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk. "Tombland is more of a grand historical epic than a tightly packed whodunnit, like some of the earlier novels; but 800 pages in Shardlake’s company will always fly by". [3] Dissolution was adapted in 10 episodes for BBC Radio 4 in September 2012, and Revelation in March 2017.

Sansom explained his reasons for making his protagonist a barrister, in an interview with The Guardian.

"I thought it made sense for Shardlake to be a lawyer for a number of reasons. First, the law was my profession: I find legal practice endlessly interesting. Second, it existed then and now, so it provides a point of contact for readers. And third, it's democratic: it offers a way into any number of mysteries, and puts Shardlake in the way of an endless variety of characters."

Sansom also said that he plans to write further Shardlake novels taking the lawyer into the reign of Elizabeth I.[1]

He has also written Winter in Madrid, a thriller set in Spain in 1940 in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and Dominion, an alternate history novel set in a Britain following a fictional Axis victory in World War II. About the latter novel, a Guardian review called the premise "an invented mid-20th century Britain that has the intricate detail and delineation of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, though thankfully described in better prose".[4]

Awards

Dark Fire won the 2005 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, awarded by the Crime Writers' Association (CWA). Sansom himself was "Very Highly Commended" in the 2007 CWA Dagger in the Library award, for the Shardlake series.[5] Dominion won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.[6]

Politics

Sansom is Scottish by birth. He opposes Scottish independence, a prospect he describes as "literally heartbreaking".[7] Following the publication of his 2012 novel Dominion, in which his depiction of an alternate history where Germany won World War II includes the Scottish National Party acting as collaborators with the British Nazi state, he stated that "A party which is often referred to by its members, as the SNP is, as the National Movement should send a chill down the spine of anyone who remembers what those words have often meant in Europe",[8] before going on to describe the party as "deeply dangerous, with no politics in the conventional sense, believing only in the old dream that the unleashing of 'national spirit' and 'national pride' can solve a country's problems."[9] He donated £294,000 to the Better Together group which campaigned for a "no" vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[10][11] He also said that the Yes Scotland campaign had "dubious" financial backing.[12]

Bibliography

Matthew Shardlake Series
  • Sansom, C.J. (2003). Dissolution. London: Macmillan. ISBN 1-4050-0542-4.
  • Sansom, C.J. (2004). Dark Fire. London: Macmillan. ISBN 1-4050-0544-0.
  • Sansom, C.J. (2006). Sovereign. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-3304-3608-2.
  • Sansom, C.J. (2008). Revelation. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-3304-47106.
  • Sansom, C.J. (2010). Heartstone. London: Mantle. ISBN 978-1405092739.
  • Sansom, C.J. (2014). Lamentation. London: Mantle. ISBN 978-1447260257. [13]
  • Sansom, C.J. (2018). Tombland. London: Mantle. ISBN 978-1447284482. [14]

Other novels

References
  1. Crown, Sarah (15 November 2010). "CJ Sansom: a life in writing". The Guardian.
  2. C. J. Sansom Archived 15 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine article at Greene Heaton.
  3. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/28/tombland-cj-sansom-review, Tombland Review
  4. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/06/dominion-cj-sansom-review, Dominion by CJ Sansom – review
  5. the CWA Dagger in the Library 2007 Archived 15 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine – C.J. Sansom shortlisted for the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award.
  6. Sidewise Award Nominees, SF Site News, 1 July 2013.
  7. Phil Miller (13 October 2012). "Scots author condemns 'dangerous' SNP in book". The Herald.
  8. "Scots author condemns 'dangerous' SNP in book". HeraldScotland.
  9. CJ Sansom (19 October 2012). "My nightmare of a Nazi Britain". The Guardian.
  10. "Scottish independence: Better Together reveals donor list". BBC News. 7 April 2013.
  11. "Better Together backer linked SNP to "nationalist extremism"". Newsnet Scotland. 15 December 2013. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Tombland by C. J. Sansom". Pan Macmillan.
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