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S. J. Parris

Author of Heresy

22 Works 3,464 Members 227 Reviews 6 Favorited

About the Author

Disambiguation Notice:

S. J. Parris is the pen name of Stephanie Merritt, a contributing journalist for various newspapers and magazines, including the Observer and the Guardian. [Heresy (2010)]

Series

Works by S. J. Parris

Tagged

16th century (96) ARC (24) audio (18) British (15) Catholicism (23) crime (84) crime fiction (20) detective (18) ebook (74) Elizabeth I (66) Elizabethan (22) England (100) fiction (362) Giordano Bruno (108) heresy (20) historical (112) historical fiction (380) historical mystery (50) historical novel (18) historical thriller (16) history (19) Inquisition (18) Italy (22) Kindle (46) London (20) monks (18) murder (46) mysteries (17) mystery (209) novel (38) Oxford (54) read (28) religion (43) series (30) thriller (55) to-read (270) Tudor (48) Tudors (21) UK (15) unread (17)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Merritt, Stephanie Jane
Other names
Parris, S. J.
Birthdate
1974
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Surrey, England, UK
Places of residence
England, UK
Education
University of Cambridge (Queens' College)
Occupations
journalist
critic
novelist
Organizations
The Observer (deputy literary editor)
Disambiguation notice
S. J. Parris is the pen name of Stephanie Merritt, a contributing journalist for various newspapers and magazines, including the Observer and the Guardian. [Heresy (2010)]

Members

Reviews

nice historical mystery
manages to create sympathy despite the morally questionable undercover activities of the Bruno character.




 
Flagged
cspiwak | 105 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
Historical Fiction
 
Flagged
BooksInMirror | 8 other reviews | Feb 19, 2024 |
Bruno is assigned by Walsingham to infiltrate the Babington plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne.

It's been a while since i read the previous one in the main series of these books (2016!) so I struggled a bit with all the back references in the first 1/3 or so of this one. The story had some exciting moments but also some parts where I thought the author was trying too hard to find contemporary resonances - to the point where I was thinking Bruno couldn't have said that.… (more)
 
Flagged
Robertgreaves | 7 other reviews | Nov 24, 2023 |
Given a lifelong interest in the Tudor period and my prior enjoyment of C J Sansom's series, I was drawn to the first in this series set during the reign of Elizabeth I. Giordano Bruno, a real historical character, is the protagonist, who tells the story in first person narrative. The Prologue introduces Bruno some years before the main action, where he is threatened with being brought before the Inquisition due to his taste in reading and his adherence to the theories of Copernicus - that the Earth orbits the sun rather than the other way round. Bruno's own views go further and he believes in other solar systems, which is regarded by the Catholic Church as heretical, and heretics are burned at the stake.

The main action cuts to several years later after he has escaped across Europe, having many trials on the way. Despite winning the patronage of Henri III, the French King, he has had to take ship to the more tolerant country of England to evade the extremists now coming to power in France especially as he is still on the Inquisition's wanted list. Francis Walsingham, the Queen's spymaster, recruits him - he is due to go to Oxford in the company of his friend Sir Philip Sidney to take part in a debate. While there, Walsingham wants him to ferret out any Catholics who might be plotting against the Queen. Ironically, Bruno has to pass himself off as a Catholic - as an Italian, he does not seem quite as endangered as English Catholics might be - especially since he is now what we would regard as a humanist. Certainly, he does not believe in either the Catholic or Protestant dogmas.

In Oxford, Bruno is soon embroiled in trying to catch a killer when one of the college fellows is murdered and other deaths follow. All this is against a background of college politics, religious conflict, outright hostility towards himself as a putative Catholic, and his own attraction to the daughter of the Rector: an attraction he must resist as, reliant on patronage as he is, he cannot offer a respectable woman a secure future. Meanwhile he also wants to check if a certain book, lost centuries before, has been brought to Oxford as he believes it would enable him to mentally contact the Godhead and find out the secrets of the universe - this is the 16th century after all.

There is quite a bit of action in the story: Bruno can handle himself in a fight and even kill in self-defence when necessary - something he has had to do since fleeing the Inquisition. He comes in for a fair bit of physical abuse in the course of the story, although the fact that there are further volumes takes away some of the suspense when his life is threatened.

Overall I found it an interesting read and was kept guessing by the murder mystery although I did guess one part of it that one character had cause to take revenge on another . One problem I had was that in a few places I was slightly thrown out of the 16th century immersion by the use of a modern turn of phrase. I can't recall now what these were and I know the author is trying for a more readable prose narrative and dialogue than would be the case if it were really phrased in Elizabethan English, but these were such modern expressions that they did jar. By contrast, the Shadlake series by C J Sansom, which is the nearest thing I have come to this, does not do this. I'm not also totally convinced about the character being the real historical ex-monk/philosopher - there isn't really enough 'meat' to make that believable for me (plus in view of the real life fate of the historical figure, it would make reading it too sad to equate the two). So I can't quite award the story full marks and instead rate it a solid 4 star read.
… (more)
 
Flagged
kitsune_reader | 105 other reviews | Nov 23, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
22
Members
3,464
Popularity
#7,343
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
227
ISBNs
174
Languages
8
Favorited
6

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